To Start Anew
by Tobias Atreus
Summary: The battle atop the Hokage Monument ended in victory... if only Naruto had the pleasure of enjoying the peace that followed. Rating subject to change. NarutoXMirajane.
1. End Game

No food…

No rest…

Don't stop running… Can't stop running…

Too many peoples lives were at stake.

Two blurs spend through the forest at nigh unperceivable speeds. A single minded expression of determination was all either of their marked faces showed. No words were spoken, no words were needed. Just actions and hope… The hope that they could make it before it was too late.

Three days… They had been running for three days, no stops for sleep or to break their fast. Not even to stop and breathe. To some they were monsters, to others they were weapons. To those who truly mattered, they were friends, comrades, and loved ones. They were precious people. They were sacrifices.

The Fourth Great Shinobi War had loomed over the Elemental Countries for two years now. Akatsuki and their immortal army of the dead had instigated a bloody conflict with every major power, attacked their villages, kidnapped their Jinchirriki, assaulted the Kages Summit and threatened the five most esteemed Shinobi in the known land. They burned crops and towns, slaughtered livestock and left the realm barren. Morale was shattered across the broken continent, corpses of shinobi left to rot in the sun while their comrades fled from the horrors of the undead army of Kabuto and the horrid creations of Uchiha Madara.

No word from the outside had been allowed to enter their secret hide-away island when the Alliance hid their two demon containers away from the world. As men and women died for them, they stayed oblivious to it all, training nonstop to better grasp their abilities and super natural powers. They laughed as others died, feasted as more starved. When they finally learned through the spiritual summons of the youngest container of the battles that ravaged the land, the two immediately incapacitated their guard and left to aid their brethren.

Once they reached the lines of carnage, they finally paused. The coppery scent of blood was overwhelming for their demonically enhanced senses. Screams of the wounded and dying hammered at their ears while a light show of various techniques played havoc on the already torn earth. The two simultaneously inserted soldier pills into their mouths as they resumed at a steady walk, hoping beyond hope that they didn't recognize a face within the mounds of corpses littering the ground.

A hope that was quickly dashed…

The shorter one with blond hair, cheeks each adorned with three whisker-like markings as signs of his beast was the first to muffle a gasp. His eyes immediately fell to the fallen form of Chouji in badly damaged armor. Dirt and blood was smeared across his face, and his eyes stared out without sight.

They walked past the corpses quickly, yet lingering just long enough to sear the faces of their loved ones into their hearts, a wordless promise to never forget the sacrifices they made to keep them safe.

Kiba covered in so much red that the ink on his cheeks seemed to blend. A feral grin stretched across his face even as he passed into the realm of the Shinigami.

Samui with a shattered sword in one hand, and the other placed in vain over a mortal wound.

Ino who's slender neck was never meant to bend like that

The Raikage lay still and silent for once in his life, bodies of enemies surrounding him.

The further they went, more blood, more familiar faces. Shikamaru… Neji and Tenten… Lee and his sparkling teeth… Shino and Shizune… the list went on.

He saw Kakashi, arm through a smoldering hole in the chest of Kabuto, Sakura impaled on a thin chokuto while Sasuke lay still beside her with half his cranium caved in.

Everywhere he looked was bathed in blood and mayhem. The Eldest container Kirabi looked over at Naruto, "Gather your sage chakra, we've been spotted."

This was not the time for rhymes. Not when all your loved ones lay dead because of you.

Wordlessly the blond nodded and sat cross legged, allowing his focus and concentration to flow into the earth and summon the endless energy that sustained it. The loud clang of clashing swords and kunai a distant ring in the wind.

Kirabi kept his partner unmolested through the conflict, his multiple swords a blur in the twilight hours. Left and right men fell to his relentless onslaught of endless spins, sevens swords twirling in a dance of death. _None were the walking undead_, he noted with relief, _It seems as if the death of Kabuto brought an end to his vile creations as well._

It wasn't long until Naruto joined the fray, the pigments of his eyes changing to that of a Toad Sage. They quickly ended those few living soldiers that the ancient Uchiha had tricked into following him.

They saved their chakra, using only their martial might. While one left limbs and heads in his wake, the other left crushed bodies. Two drastically different styles with one very similar goal… death to those who harmed their precious people.

They carved their way through the ruins of the village Naruto had known all his life and to the mountain he had looked up to with pride. The Hokage Monument served as the pinnacle of Shinobi to all who believed in the Will of Fire. To see it now left the blond in a cold rage. The face of the First Hokage was simply missing, a large crater where it once was, while the other four were covered in signs of battle scarring. The carving of his father, the Fourth Hokage was missing half of its head.

Upon reaching the top their furious eyes found the Patriarch of the Uchiha Clan. He had shed his Akatsuki cloak, and donned the red plated armor of the ancient Uchiha during the times before the founding of the village. His red Sharingan eyes spun almost lazily as he glanced at the two with a cold calculating look.

"Give up. The Alliance is destroyed while half of my army still remains in reserve. Konohagakure no Sato and Kumogakure are no more. Kirigakure has taken what was left of their pathetic forces and fled to their misty island while Suna and Iwa were mercilessly crushed. There is no one else for you to fight for. No one else for you to die honorably for."

Kirabi glanced at the young shinobi standing beside him. The boy who had quickly become one of the best friends he had ever had, and now the only one. He saw the determined look glowing in his yellow sage eyes and a grin stretched across his face, "Now Naruto!"

A single kunai flew from beneath the blonde's red sleeve towards their enemy who's hand had already predicted the path and moved his head a fraction to the left accordingly, only to gasp in shock.

A bright yellow flash erupted where the blade had been and a hand took its place. Before Madara had time to phase his body the flat of the hand made contact with his cheek and instead of blunt force he met with a slight burning sensation. Naruto flashed away before he could retaliate with a strike.

"Are you sure it will work, Naruto?" Kirabi asked almost skeptically.

"Be my guest and test it out if you have no faith in my awesome abilities."

Kirabi launched forward, his bijuu chakra cloak bubbling out on mental command with six green tails swaying behind him.

"**LARIAT!**"

Shock and pain was all Madara felt as the demon container's forearm came down on him with enough force to almost decapitate him. _So the brat must've done something to counteract my ability to phase. _the man thought as he tumbled over the flat surface of the monument, coming to a skidding stop on his feet just before the edge.

"Impressive… I should never have let you live for this long, you take after your father entirely too much… Namikaze Naruto," he said, wiping a beat of blood dripping down from his lip, "even the Yondaime however, was still an insignificant ant compared to my powers!"

"**Amaterasu.**"

It all happened too fast. Flames surrounded the two containers in a sphere of fire more sinister then any even the Kyuubi could create. They were pitch black and closing in, heat causing trails of sweat to slide slowly down their necks. All sides were barricaded by the unholy heat produced by the Uchiha's cursed pinwheel eyes. It was pitch black within the ever tightening orb of death.

They burrowed. Chakra infused hands gouging the mountainous terrain as if it were jelly. One's fueled by the volatile force of a demon, the other by the very mountain he was maiming. The flames followed through the tunnels, relentless as a bloodhound in tracking its prey.

They shot out from the earth once they had cleared past the sphere's circumference, hellish fire hot on heels. A water jutsu sent in vain by the elder did nothing to impede it.

The two had faced the black flames before from lesser Uchihas. Sasuke and Itachi both wielded them masterfully… or so they thought. Madara's made theirs pale in comparison. It was almost as if it had a mind of its own. It would fork and bend, split and strike. An onslaught of death held in check by one mans furious glare.

Madara hadn't budget since his attack, his attention captivated solely on controlling the cursed flames to victory. A mad grin stretched across his face as he lifted his hands and moved them in an almost intricate dance. It only took a second for the two containers to understand what he was doing as they increased their efforts. The flames had become even faster.

They would launch their techniques whenever they believed an opening to have presented itself, only to see the attacks swallowed hole by the ravenous dark pyre. The Kazekage could call his sand a form of ultimate defense, but it didn't hold a candle to the true thing.

The eight tailed host let out a grunt of frustration as he channeled his last two tails into his chakra cloak. The vicious chakra bubbled around him scourging the earth of life and sailed through the air in emerald lances.

The a slight widening of the eyes was the only expression the opponent had as the tails finally penetrated his first line of defense and homed in on him, covered in his own vile weapon. He tiled his body slightly and let them pass right by, but it served its purpose. The attack took his attention off of the other warrior.

There was no time for Naruto to charge his ultimate attack, so he opted for the version his father had first mastered. A blue spinning orb took shape within his right hand as a three pronged kunai slid into the left. _I can finally hiraishin without worrying about flames sprouting where I appear, _he thought with a grin. With a precise flick of the wrist, the blade was sent sailing, and the blond dissipated into nothingness.

The man flew across the mountain once more, skidding across the torn up boulders to a stop yards from his previous spot. He stood up quickly, without one hint of pain or damage.

Naruto frowned. Something wasn't right. The Rasengan hasn't always obliterated its enemies, but it was excruciatingly painful for all who experienced it. It was as if a round drill was carving its way through your body and then imploding once reaching the desired depth.

_Shit… Genjutsu._

He gathered Nature's chakra and pulsed it within his body, disturbing the infiltrator's connection to his perception, and what he saw made him go white.

Kirabi, his last friend… the only living precious person he had left was standing in front of him, arms stretched and feet planted. A soundless scream escaped his lips as those hideous flames devoured his body. He crumpled on himself, flames searing flesh over and over again. The regenerative traits of a demon container made his agony tenfold, not allowing the man to embrace death as a regular mortal would have.

Naruto saw red.

Rage assaulted his mental focus as the malicious crimson chakra of the most feared bijuu in existence bubbled out from his self conscious. It wasn't as it was when he fought the False God Pein. This was controlled. The fox held no power over his self-conscious anymore… it was all Naruto.

He forced the Bijuu's cloak to form and meld with the natural chakra circulating within his system. It felt warm on his skin, like a welcoming campfire on a cold winter night. His iris was gold and streaked with crimson, a black slit slicing through the bar like pupil his previous mode was known for, creating a cross.

And he was gone.

Even with the most powerful Sharingan to have ever graced the Shinobi lands, Uchiha Madara was helpless to the wrath. It came upon him from all sides at once, a dervish of burning claws and inhuman blows. Each touch infected him with the terribly toxic force of the King of Demons, and he had lost count of the strikes.

His coils seared within him, like white fire cleansing the corruption from his body. No higher thought could be processed within his mind, only pain.

Thus the mastermind behind the deaths of thousands was slain, dying in more agony then any other had ever come to know.

As Naruto tried to calm the tidal force of powers rushing through him, he came to a horrible realization, _Shit, there's too much! I can't disperse the chakra fast enough!_

_The chakra that was once balanced into a deadly cohesive force quickly became unstable. It was impossible to control such an unfathomable force for long. It began to backlash, spearing through his tenketsus in a shower of gore. His coils ruptured and the chakra was released into the air._

_It tore through that as easily as it did his flesh. The fabric of time and reality meant nothing to the full power of the Lord of Hell coupled with the unending force of the Earth. The air around him began to tear, and a hole opened. Darkness claimed the defender of the realm._

_To be continued…_

_Author's Notes_

_First chapter down. This will be a NarutoXFairy Tail Crossover with a pairing focused on Naruto and Mirajane. It will not be a harem, and there will be no slash, sorry to disappoint. _

_Constructive criticism will always be welcomed, flames however will not be. Read my story if you like it, search for a different one if you don't. _

_I am currently looking for someone to beta this story. Someone creative and excellent with grammar. _


	2. A New Home

Mirajane Strauss hummed happily to herself as she walked back to the Fairy Tail Guild Hall with a large brown paper bag of fresh groceries in tow.

The lines were longer then expected on a Wednesday morning so she took a shortcut back to the Guild Hall with supplies for dinner in hand, hoping she would make it in time. The weaving alleyways of Magnolia City were almost always free of crime because of the close proximity of two rather prominent guilds. The rarity of even a pick pocketing incident was almost non existent for those bearing the stamp of an official guild like hers.

It was why it came as such a shock when she felt a malevolent presence drop behind her, before her world went dark.

* * *

><p>A fresh breeze gently kissed his face as Naruto's mind came into focus. He could feel the soft warm sand beneath his skin, the steady current of the ocean lazily rinsing his legs of the grime and stains of battle and grief. For the first time in his life he felt calm, and more aware of the world even with his eyes closed then he ever had before.<p>

_Is this peace? _He idly thought as he forced himself to open his eyes to the new day before him.

Blue skies sprawled from the horizon with careless clouds floating towards the sea. He envied them. No worries in the world, no pain felt or tears shed. He could finally understand what Shikamaru saw in them. He saw freedom.

He almost wished that he could lay here forever basking in the rising sun, but he knew it was a hopeless dream. Too much was still at stake. Slowly he rose, stretching as he did to relieve his muscles of the tension of the journey to the battlefield and fight afterwards. A lone tear slid down his face as the image of his final sensei and friend Kirabi. _Sorry Kirabi-sensei, but I don't have time to mourn for you or the others properly, but I will honor your memories. It's a promise of a lifetime._

The blond shinobi stood and surveyed his surroundings in an attempt to gather his bearings… and was shocked.

_Wha? Where the hell am I? _He thought helplessly as he looked around. It occurred to him that Konohagakure, being in the middle of Hi no Kuni had no beaches, and that he had never seen a tree quite like the ones that were near by. They were thin and tall, unlike the thick majestic canopies that his Village was named after. Panic began to set in as he brought his hands up to the ram sign to flood his systems with chakra and break whatever genjutsu had hold of him only to leave him breathless. _Where the hell is my chakra?_

It was then that he made another painful observation. He couldn't feel the corrupted presence of the Kyuubi's malevolent chakra. The blond closed his eyes in deep concentration as he willed himself within his mindscape to the prison of the Kyuubi no Kitsune.

When he opened his eyes, he could only gape. The large sewer-like room that within the past two years had become more familiar to him then nearly any other location was in shambles. A large chasm stood in the space where the cage of the demonic fox once held fast. The strong iron bars that had held the beast at bay for nearly two decades were scattered around the room, twisted and jagged. _No…_

Naruto gulped as he slowly lifted his shaky gaze to the ceiling where the large pipes representing his immense reserves of chakra coiled between each other like a nest of snakes. _Heh… no wonder I can't mould anything…_

The pipes were mangled almost beyond recognition. Vicious gaping holes lined the tubes in an almost horror-like version of a flute. "My chakra…" he whimpered, feeling the full gravity of the situation as he ripped his mind from his mental realm.

He took deep breathes, _Calm down Naruto, think… think… think…_

An idea lit up in his head like a light bulb. _Of course! Senjutsu!_

He sat in the sand crossing one leg under the other and brought his hands back into the ram sign for concentration. The shinobi cleared his mind and eased his breathing even more, allowing the nature's energies to flow into him. He enveloped his body and soul into the peaceful charka and began to notice major differences between what he was used to.

For starters, it was easy to control. Before it was almost a constant battle between him and the energies over balance between physical and spirit, now it seemed tame and gentle. It had a different feel to it as well that was hard to describe, almost a different texture.

He pulsed the energy through his system in vain in an attempt to dispel any illusion that may have hold of him only to open his eyes again and look around in exasperation. There was no change.

_What would Kakashi-sensei do?_

Naruto slammed his palm into his forehead as his shinobi mind reverted back to lessons he hardly remembered taking. _Shinobi rule # 13 - When in a strange area the first thing a shinobi should do is gather information and reassess the situation._

He stretched his senses out, blanketing the area in a thin later of the natural energy. It only served to create more questions. Not only did the trees look different, but they felt different. It was subtle, and anyone who wasn't as attuned with nature would have passed the slight differences off as nothing. Naruto however wasn't a Sage for nothing though. There was a serenity to them, a peaceful glow of energy that hummed from within in a gentle song of tranquility.

_This energy… this is not Nature Chakra… _he thought, as he scanned the substance. There was no mixture of physical and spiritual energy, no yin and yang about it that made chakra what it was. It was pure in a sense that even the most flawless diamond couldn't manage. The name came to him in a gust of wind, almost as if from the land itself, "Eternano…"

Naruto had no idea how he knew, but deep within his heart he knew it was right.

The energy was everywhere. It surged in each blade of grass, each breath of air. It was the force of the wind and the tide of the ocean. It was the heart of the world.

The sound of a piercing scream echoed off the trees, penetrating his soul. It was no scream of jubilation, no scream of cheer… it was a scream of pure terror.

He gathered the energy and swirled it around his calves in a manner similar to what he used with chakra and exploded deep into the tree line.

He felt them long before he saw them. Comparing the energy pools of the flora and fauna of the ever thickening forest to the two figures ahead was like comparing a glass of water to a river. The differences in the flow of energy between the duo however were like night and day. Whereas one was swirling in a reckless and chaotic pool in an almost hungering manner, the other was still and calm, like an empty lake on a breezeless day.

Naruto slowed his pace, sacrificing speed and momentum for silence and stealth. He put his years of shinobi experience to use as he cautiously crept up to the opening of a clearing.

Two people were below him, one male with a muscular physique, along with a bound female who was slightly smaller then the average height of a woman.

The male had long spiky silver hair a pair of hakama shredded at the bottom with no shirt. Blue tribal style tattoos stretched across his abdomen, chest and arms and he had a shredded scarf wrapped around his neck. Two black tattoos were on either eye in the shape of stitched scars. One of his hands held a large scythe that he propped on his shoulder while the other held a rope attached to a girl.

The girl was stunning. She had long flowing ivory hair that framed a gentle face and went down to her mid back, where it curled slightly at the ends with her bangs held up in a small upwards ponytail. Doe-like large blue eyes glistened with unshed tears. A long maroon dress covered her figure, accentuating every one of her voluptuous curves before ruffling at the waist line and spanning down her covered legs. A dirty strip of cloth was wrapped around her mouth as a gag. Her petite hands were bound together at the wrists with a thick blue rope flickering with tiny almost unseen symbols. _Must be some sort of seal on it._

He watched on as she tugged against the rope with all her strength, seemingly unfazed by friction burns from the tightly coiled rope. Her long heels dug deep into the ground, making each step a chore for the other.

The man had a furious look on his face as he tried to get her to stop resisting. He tugged roughly on the line, causing her to lose her footing and fall on the ground, snapping a heel of one of her pumps, "Get up woman! None of your precious Fairy Tail losers can hear you out here. No one will save you. Just quit making it such a pain in the ass! The Balam Alliance will pay good money for you alive, but I'm sure I could get a good deal for you dead too. One could only imagine the amount of fun we could have before you finally begged for the end…" the man said with a leer.

She mumbled something through the cloth gag in her mouth and glared at the man. A look of hatred and terror mixed across her face in an expression that no one with eyes as pure as hers should have ever been forced to make.

The man began dragging her roughly across the ground, cackling. Naruto's fists clenched in fury. He could watch no longer.

* * *

><p>Mira tried to yell at the man to no avail. The filthy gag that the man had torn off from the bottom of his already ragged and dirty trousers in order to prevent her from screaming had prevented her from making anything other then the smallest whimpers and grunts.<p>

The back of her head ached where she had been struck, and her vision was still slightly blurry from the aftermath. She could feel where blood had crusted and scabbed, and prayed that it was just a minor concussion.

It took the woman a moment to process the gravity of his threat before tears blossomed in her eyes. The Balam Alliance… She knew exactly what those people would do to her, and she made plenty of enemies within it when she was still on the active roster.

She had tried using some of her magic, but the ropes tied to her wrists seemed to be draining her of it whenever she tried to use it.

All she could do was struggle and delay, fighting the man tooth and nail for every inch of ground he gained with hope that the guild had noticed her absence and sent people out to search for her. Mirajane was one of the most well known figures in the city, someone had to have seen something.

They traveled for what felt like hours. The constant tugging of her arms and the draining of her energy along with the tree coverage blocking out most of the sun made her lose all semblance of time. She had contemplated giving up, before dashing the thought quickly from her mind. _I'm a mage of Fairy Tail. Active or not, surrender is not in our vocabulary, _she thought, as a fire of determination spread through her veins.

Mirajane had always prided herself on her ability to sense the flow of the magic in world. The subtle life blood of the land she loved so much. It wasn't a common talent, in fact it was exceedingly rare. It took a great attention to detail, and something that with her natural abilities at transformation, she did phenomenally.

The energy she felt was unlike any signature she had ever come across before in her life. Everyone and everything had its own unique signature of Eternano. Every blade of grass, every flying fish. It was subtle in life forms that did not exercise their reserves regularly, but it was there if you looked close enough. This energy however… it felt like the trees beside her, the clouds above her, the breeze around her, the grass below her. It felt like everything. And then it was gone.

How could energy like that just disappear?

Then it was back, right in front of her. A tall blond man wearing torn and ragged orange pants appeared between her and her captor, left hand grasping the rope and right foot extended where the Dark Mage once was. A crash into a tree a few yards away revealed his new position.

The man looked down to her with a gentle smile on his tanned face. His blond hair gleamed in the few beams of sunlight that made it through the canopy and his eyes seemed to hold an unearthly glow. They were bright blue with small erratic swirling deep blue lines. His physique was impressive to say the least. Lean chiseled muscle wired under his flawless sun kissed skin in an almost hypnotizing manner. Out of habit her eyes instantly searched the revealed flesh for a guild emblem, only to find nothing. The man reached down with his other hand and untied the ropes from her wrist and helped her to her feet.

"Are you alright?" He asked, his face full of concern.

"Y-Yes... Thank you for saving me…" she said, as her breath hitched with the sudden eye contact. She tapered off leaving a pause, not knowing the name of the man in front of her.

"Namikaze Naruto, and what's your name?" He questioned, steadying her as she wobbled slightly.

"Mirajane Strauss."

As he was about to say more, the man that he had kicked grunted and pulled himself up to his feet. Wind kicked up around them furiously, mimicking the attitude of the furious dark mage.

"Do you realize who you're dealing with, fool? I'm Shinigami Erigor, the strongest mage of the Dark Guild Eisenwald! You will pay for trying to rob me of my prize!" the silver haired man yelled as he began to hover in midair.

He raised his left hand and extended his index and middle fingers and made a rapid slashing motion. A large purple seal appeared in midair before launching high velocity blades of wind at Naruto who made no attempt at dodging. When the attack landed a large cloud of dust obscured the newcomer from view.

Erigor began cackling. "Don't you see? You're out of your league fool. Now if you're still even able to move, run away so I can get my revenge on Fairy Tail before I end you."

"Huh, what was that supposed to do exactly?" Came the voice from inside the dust. When it cleared it showed the man standing in the same spot, not even a scratch on his flawless body. "I'm sorry but I'm going to have to cut this short," he announced.

Naruto held out his right hand and began to focus the energy. Unlike usual a dark blue diagram appeared over his hand as he began to focus the attack much like the purple one his opponent had used. An orb of bright blue energy swirled over the diagram with dark blue streaks, "Huh. That's different," he said as he glanced at his attack before settling his eyes back on the target.

"I'll give you one chance to surrender," Naruto announced.

"Ha! Like you could even touch me with that!" Erigor boasted as he flew up higher.

"**Wind Magic: Storm Mail!"**

Another diagram showed up, this time heralding the appearance of a grey tornado-like armor that encased Erigor, "This Storm Mail is impeni-"

Naruto vanished from where he was standing without a sound, causing Mirajane to gasp in surprise. _So fast!_

Within the blink of the eye he reappeared, coming back in sight just behind the self proclaimed Shinigami with his hand drawn back, before launching the swirling orb forcibly into the opposing villain.

"**Rasengan!"**

The attack grinded through the storm mail imploded on the soft flesh beneath sending Erigor flying down to the earth at high speeds, breaking through multiple trees during the plummet.

Mirajane watched as Naruto silently landed on the ground in a crouch, powerful leg muscles absorbing the impact from such a height with no difficulty at all. _Who is this man, and what kind of magic was that he used?_

The blond man spared a glance towards the crumbled figure of Erigor before walking towards her. "Excuse me, but do you know which direction I need to go to get to Konoha? I need to see if anyone else made it out of the battle."

_Konoha? Battle? What on earth is he talking about? _"I-I'm sorry but I've never heard of a place called Konoha, and I haven't heard of any major battle anywhere."

The man gave her a confused look, "Konohagakure no sato? In Hi no Kuni? What about Sunagakure?"

Mira just raised an eye brow, "I haven't heard of any of those places. Where in relation to Magnolia City are they?"

She could see his confusion turning into frustration, "Magnolia City? Have you ever heard of the Elemental Countries?"

"No, I haven't. You're in Earthland, on the continent of Fiore. We should still be rather close to Magnolia though, where my Guild is. If you want I can take you there and we can get you some new clothes and some food. It's the least I can do for your rescue."

At the word food Naruto's stomach made a large growl, causing the man to sheepishly scratch the back of his neck. "That would be nice Mira-chan, which way do we go?"

"Mira-chan huh? I like it Naru-kun," she said with a smile, "I've been in this forest a few times, it should be this way. So what kind of magic did you use there? I don't think I've ever seen something like it."

"Magic?"

"You're really not from around here are you?"

* * *

><p>Naruto sighed. His fears were made true by the complete lack of recognition in the gorgeous girl's eyes. <em>How do I get home?<em>

"No…" he sadly answered, as images of his loved ones flooded before his eyes.

_Where is home… when the people who made it that way are gone?_

A soft tear slowly escaped his eyes and slid slowly down his cheek. _Sakura-chan…_

The shinobi brushed it away with his sleeve before glancing at the girl beside him. She had a look of empathy on her face as she placed her hand on his forearm in a soothing manner, "Naru-kun, are you alright?"

His hand subconsciously reached toward the back of his neck as he forced a foxy grin over his face, "Of course! So what's this magic stuff? Is it anything like chakra?"

The look in her eyes confirmed that she didn't buy the lie, but she respected his privacy by accepting the subject change in stride, "No clue what chakra is, but magic is basically the physical embodiment of the spirit. Not everyone can use it though, only about ten percent of people can wield it. The techniques are fueled by an energy source called Eternano, which is the particles of magic. Following me so far?"

_That must be the energy I'm drawing on… _"I think so. This Eternano… is it just in mages?" he inquired.

"Every living thing has it, its even in the very air we breathe," she answered patiently, "My turn for a question though. What was that ability you used?"

"Oh that? That was the Rasengan. It was pretty awesome wasn't it?" Naruto beamed. "… Although it was a lot different then usual…"

"Different?"

"Yeah… I've never seen a diagram like that appear before. The coloring of it was a bit off too… It must be this weird energy," he mused.

"It seems to have many similarities to Make magic," Mirajane hypothesized. At the sight of the confused expression on Naruto's face she elaborated further, "Make magic is when a mage gives form to Eternano, although usually its with an element. Whatever you're doing, it seems to be concentrating pure Eternano particles in the form of an attack. It's really amazing, I've never quite seen anything like it."

The blond blushed at the praise he received, "Eternano… make?"

"Yep! You might have discovered a new powerful form of magic!"

"My turn for a question," he said, "that guy mentioned something about revenge on Fairy Tail. Why would someone want revenge on a fairy's tail? Wait, I didn't even know fairies _had_ tails."

Her face lit up in amusement, a pristine smile lighting up her face. "Definitely not from around here. Fairy Tail is the name of the mage guild that I'm from. Its actually pretty famous, we're one of the top guilds in Fiore."

_Guilds must be a lot like hidden villages here. _"And the guild Eisenwald is like yours?"

"In a sense, but while Fairy Tail is an official guild… Eisenwald is one that has gone dark," the girl corrected for him. She caught his questioning expression and answered before he had time to voice it, "A dark guild is one that has committed a taboo like assassination where the Mage Council that governs us ordered it to disband. A guild becomes dark by ignoring the order, which puts a bounty on the guild."

As the pair walked back to Magnolia City Mirajane taught Naruto about the intricacies of magic and the guild system, along with some other useful information to have while he told her about chakra and shinobi.

Pleasant conversation made the hike back to the city pass relatively quickly, and before long the two stood at the gates, "Welcome to Magnolia," the ivory haired woman said cheerfully.

Naruto could only stare. The city was impressive, tightly packed buildings of a strange architecture towered over the cobblestone roads. People were everywhere, dressing in bright clothes with happy smiles on their faces. Market stalls were set up along the roads selling fresh produce and meats. It was a carefree attitude that Naruto hadn't seen in years… Not since Nagato's attack.

"Wow…" he mumbled.

"Pretty cool huh?" Mira asked.

"Yeah…"

They walked the streets quickly, Naruto's desire to get out from the increasing attention of the population because of his state of undress. The girl weaved through shortcuts around the town expertly, and before long Naruto found himself gazing at a modest sized three story building. **FAIRY TAIL **was emblazoned in large letters above the large orange double doors. A large orange pendant depicting a strange symbol was hung on the top floor. _Must be their guild sign or something._

Without further adieu the beauty placed both hands on the handles and swung the doors open.

"Master, I'm back!" Mirajane yelled as soon as she stepped through the portcullis.

"Mirajane! Where have you been? I sent Elfman out to find you after a few hours. I thought you were just going to get some groceries for dinner!" A very small man said. The top of his head was bald and wreathed with grey hair that stood up on the sides with a large mustache engulfing his upper lip. He wore a buttoned up white shirt with a maroon vest, and dark blue pants. Over his shoulders hung a tan high collared cloak that was fastened by a cord over his breastbone.

"Oh I got kidnapped. Its okay though, this strange half naked man saved me so I invited him back here," the white haired girl said innocently, a smile reaching up to her eyes.

"Oh, alright th-HUH! What happened?" the aforementioned Master exclaimed.

Mirajane quickly recounted the tail to Makarov while Naruto glanced around the room. There were tables spread out throughout it with a few people sitting at each one focusing all of their attention between the diminutive man, Mira, and him, along with a bar at the end of the room. Before he had time to make anymore observations the small man looked over at him, "Thank you for saving our Mirajane-chan, Namikaze-san, Fairy Tail owes you a debt of gratitude. She tells me that you have a very unusual story though, would you mind coming to my office so we could discuss it?"

With a shrug Naruto followed the diminutive man to his office upstairs where he was directed to have a seat. The guild master walked around the desk and climbed up to his chair and sat down on a booster seat, making Naruto chuckle internally, "I apologize for not making a proper introduction at the door, but I was rather shocked at the tale. My name is Makarov Dreyar, and I've been the guild master of Fairy Tail for nearly fifty years."

"Don't worry about it, as Mira-chan told you I'm Namikaze Naruto. I'm a jounin shinobi of Konohagakure no sato," The blond ninja said, reaching out to shake hands with the elder.

"As to that, I'm afraid that in all my years of traveling I've never heard of such a place. What brought you to Fiore?"

Naruto sighed. _I guess it would be too much to hope for that someone would have heard of home_. He debated on whether or not he should with hold information from the man. In one hand as a guild master the man would need to have connections spread all around the land, especially with the wide variety of quests guilds seemed to accept. On the other, the man was an unknown.

Naruto hesitated, and searched the mans eyes. They had an immediate calming effect on him, reminiscent to the gaze of the Sandaime Hokage, old man Sarutobi. Just three feet lower to the ground.

_Screw it, what do I have to lose?_

"I was battling a man named Uchiha Madara, the leader of a terrorist organization that declared war on the shinobi nations. The battle started going south and I made a desperate call, trying to merge two drastically different energy sources in order to defeat him. I managed to meld the two for a while and took him out, then I remember pain, almost as if the chakra was exploding out of me, but blacked out afterwards. After that I woke up on a beach and you know the story from there."

"Interesting… These two different energies, what were they?" Makarov asked, curiosity lining his every word.

"One was nature chakra, and the other…" he trailed off a bit, before taking a deep breath, "was the chakra of the Kyuubi no Kitsune, the demon that was sealed within me."

The guild master paused and looked at the man with a critical eye, "You don't seem evil. Why would you have a demon sealed within you?"

Naruto looked down, "This is personal alright? I'm telling you only because I'm hoping you might have an idea of getting back. Eighteen years ago Konoha was attacked by the Kyuubi, the most powerful of the nine tailed beasts. My father was Hokage, the leader of the village. Tailed Beasts can't be killed. They are the embodiment of chakra given sentient thought. During the attack in order to stop the beast he sealed the Kyuubi in me, the day I was born."

Makarov watched Naruto in silence before finally speaking, "I will respect your privacy."

"Thanks old man, it's a stigma that I'd rather not have following me," Naruto replied honestly.

The elderly guild master paused in thought, and Naruto could almost feel the ideas running within the wise man's mind, "I have a few theories, although I would need to do some proper research on them before I could put any stock in them. The only one that would make any form of sense is that with the combination of these two potent energies you created a natural version of a hyperspace magic known as Anima."

"Anima?"

"Yes. I don't know much about them other then it forces a bridge between two worlds. Our realm, which is Earthland, and Edolas. One of our more reclusive mages could probably tell you more about them, but he is notoriously tight lipped about them, and anything else about for that matter."

"Who is this mage?" Naruto asked in curiosity.

"He goes by the name Mystogun," Makarov stated, "he's one of our more prominent mages, although he rarely ever comes into the guild hall. He only stops by when he's in need of a mission. Now tell me, this demonic being… do you have any form of contact with it?"

"I did before the incident, but when I woke up here the seal was gone and his cage destroyed," Naruto replied as a hand subconsciously rubbed his abdomen.

"I'll try and think of some ideas, but before that I want to see this magic that piqued Mirajane's interest," he said, hopping off the books and standing on the desk.

"All right then, give me a second," he held out his right hand and like before the diagram appeared before the Rasengan.

"Interesting… I'm guessing by your look that this isn't how it looked before you got here?" Makarov stated.

"No, there never was a diagram, and it was a lighter blue color. Its called the Rasengan."

"Impressive… It's like a compressed drill, yes?" The man didn't even wait for a reply as he continued to ramble. "The manipulation of raw Eternano… I never imagined something like this… Eternano Make Magic."

"Mira-chan mentioned that as well," he replied.

"Most mages these days like to classify their attacks. While not necessary needed, it adds a bit more flare to their abilities in the eyes of the civilians. More flare means more employability here in Fiore. A good majority of our fame here in Fairy Tail is due to its members wide range of flashy abilities. When non magical people see mages, they want to see flashy and catchy abilities."

"Hmm… so Eternano Make? I like it," Naruto said.

Makarov began pacing across the desk in thought, "Boy, you've given me some things to ponder. Mirajane vouches for your ability and I've gotten a good read of character from you in here. Seeing as how you don't have any place to really go, we would be honored if you would join Fairy Tail. I'll try and find you a way back to your lands, but until then you'll have a place here, some clothes, and a form of employment."

Whatever Naruto was expecting, it wasn't to be welcomed in with open arms. He did a double take as he stared back at Makarov. "A-are you sure?"

"Anyone who would risk their lives to save one of our members and ask nothing in return is welcome here at Fairy Tail. Now hurry up and say yes, get your guild stamp, and go get some clothes on. I'm not fond of being alone in a room with a half naked man."

Naruto cracked a smile. It was nice to be accepted immediately by a group of people for who he was. He nodded, not trusting himself to speak and elected to get the stamp in the middle of his chest in orange.

As he left the office and went down the stairs, he saw Mirajane waiting at the bottom. She smiled at him and said, "Welcome to the guild Naru-kun, now lets get you some clothes."

Author's Notes: My bad, actually forgot I had a story going until I looked at my emails and found a message in my inbox. Story is kind of slow in it, but it should pick up a bit faster from here. Its going to stay Naruto and Mirajane centric so that it doesn't affect the main storyline too much.

**Updated 6/2/2012 - Corrected some grammatical mistakes that people mentioned, along with the gaping whole that I kind of skipped over regarding how his magic became known as Eternano Make. Added a bit more dialogue and tried to even out the rough spots a bit. **

**I was originally going to push the story a bit further before going back and revising chapters 2-4, but looking back, I realized how sub-par they were and that I would probably lose most readers here. **

**As always, reviews and constructive criticism are welcomed with open arms. If you have the urge to flame, just hit the cute little red box in the top right corner of your screen and go play in traffic ****J**


	3. Initiation

Naruto smiled as Mirajane handed him a bag of sandwiches, "Peanut butter and jelly," she grinned, "whipped them up while you and the Master were talking. Eat up and we'll head into the city."

"Thanks Mira-chan!," the lost shinobi beamed. While the stigma of being the Kyuubi Jinchuuriki that he had been labeled with for all of his life had gradually begun to pass since the start of his shinobi career, becoming nearly nonexistent after his battle with Nagato, he still took each acceptance from people full heartedly.

_Fairy Tail, eh? Strange name, but if everyone in the guild is like those two then I think I could make this work. _He grabbed the bag and practically inhaled the food, satisfying his stomach in seconds.

"Wha? I blinked, what happened?" Mirajane exclaimed, looking at the now empty bag.

"Hehe I guess I was hungry," came the reply, a fox-like expression nearly reaching his eyes as he scratched the back of his neck.

"I can see that. Now come on, lets go."

* * *

><p>Mirajane had never quite met someone like Naruto. It was as if the ninja radiated charisma and compassion. His smile was infectious, but his eyes… she could see hidden pain in them. It was subtle but it was there. His grin seemed out of place when matched with those blue orbs.<p>

Acting on impulse she looped her arm through his and guided him out of the Guild Hall with a grin on her face cheering, "shopping!"

She pulled him out before he could be surrounded by the other members. Mira could tell he was getting a little overwhelmed by everything, and figured he could at least face that fiasco when properly dressed. They made their way down the busy roads to the nearest clothing store.

Mirajane proceeded to sling items of all varieties in Naruto's direction seemingly without looking, "Go try things on! We'll see how they fit and then go from there."

She watched him go in with a grin, _I love shopping._

* * *

><p>Shopping however was something Naruto was now beginning to view as something nearly as intermittently evil as Uchiha Madara. He had found a bright orange jump suit similar to his old genin days hidden in one of the clearance racks, but when he went towards the changing room it was snatched from his hands.<p>

"Naru-kun, while orange is a nice color I am not going to pay for something that painful to look at. Now be a good boy and try these on," the formerly sweet turned maniacal girl stated, with scary gleam in her eyes.

He wanted to argue, but even after facing down the most powerful shinobi on the planet, the look in her eyes made him freeze, "O-of course Mira-chan…"

She tossed him a few more sets of clothing before ushering him towards the changing room. When he shut the door and turned to the mirror he gasped in shock.

"Is everything alright?" came Mirajane's voice from outside.

Naruto had no reply. His hands slowly reached up towards his cheeks where the whisker mark signs of his possession had always been so prominently displayed… were absent.

_Could this mean… I'm free of the furrball? _He thought, his voice quivering even within his own mind. Even after witnessing the state of the cage, he believed that somehow, someway the demonic presence would end up coming back. That it was just hiding and replenishing its powers. To see proof like this… The thought was humbling. He had yearned to be rid of the demonic presence within his coils since the day Mizuki, his traitorous instructor had slipped the information.

It was then that he got a closer look at his eyes. The sign of a true Toad Sage wielding Nature Chakra was the frog-like yellow eyes and the change in pigment over his eyelids to red. This however was much different. His cerulean eyes held a soft glow to them, almost as if they were gentle blue lights. He could see the deeper blue swirls lazily floating this way and that in seemingly no distinct pattern. That's when it truly hit him. Even after listening to the Guild Master's theories he had a small amount of hope that he would be able to make his way back home, but Nature Chakra didn't lie. The chain reaction between his Senjutsu and Kyuubi Chakra must have caused some sort of anomaly much like a summoning justu.

"Naru-kun?"

_I'll save those thoughts for later. Right now I need to gather more information about this world._ He sifted through the clothes Mirajane handed him before throwing a set on and walking outside… before being thrown back into the small changing room.

"Next!"

It continued for what felt like days. Naruto would try on a set of clothes, and the she-devil would launch him back inside with more. His jump suits were both gifts, one from the Sandaime Hokage for completing the academy, and the other one from his former sensei Jiraiya for completing the three years trip so he had never experienced something quite like… this. It made him glad that he instinctually resisted all of Sakura-chan's attempts to get him to go with her.

_Sakura… _If he closed his eyes, he could still see her laying so peacefully in the dirt almost as if she was sleeping. She had given her life to protect him. All of his comrades had. In a way with the destruction of Madara and the Kyuubi he had given those left alive a chance at peace not seen since before the coming of the Sage of the Six Paths. He could only hope that some of his friends were still alive to rebuild and enjoy it.

Shaking his head he forced those thoughts back down to the depths of his mind. _Grieve for them later._

He pushed his thoughts back to the task at hand. As he slipped on the jacket and stepped outside, he was relieved to finally see a grin of approval on the supple lips of the ivory haired beauty.

He wore a loose pair of dark blue cargo pants that he taped up to the tops of his shins and a skin tight sleeveless black shirt with a small fairy tail emblem emblazoned on front at his sternum in white. On top of that was his favorite piece, a long sleeved jacket reminiscent to his sage coat and the one his father wore while he was Hokage, white with an orange flame pattern licking the bottom of the hem.

He searched for a pair of sandals like the open toed shinobi ones he had grown up with, but nothing truly held that comfortable feeling. Instead, he just elected to do without and go barefoot.

"Perfect!" Mirajane exclaimed as she beamed up at him and collected the massive pile of discarded clothes.

"There's one thing missing, but I can get that later." Naruto said as he brushed one of his long golden bangs out from his eyes. He picked up a long strip of cloth and tied it around his forehead.

"I went ahead and had the cashier bag up a few of the other sets of clothes that looked good. I'm going to head to the counter and take care of it. Can you put these back where they go?"

"Sure Mira-chan, thanks!" As he took the massive mound of clothes from her, a curious thought came to him, _I wonder… _

"**Eternano Make: Shadow Clone Jutsu!**" He forced the energy out and watched as four blue diagrams sprouted in mid air in front of him, followed by four exact replicas of himself. _Whew, I still have my shadow clones. I put enough energy in that to made about twenty though… I guess it takes more of this Eternano stuff to make them then it does chakra._

He tossed clothes towards the other clones and they quickly got to work sorting through the pile and hanging everything back up. By the time Mirajane was finished at the counter he had already finished and dispelled the group.

"That was fast, ready to head back to the guild? I think its time to introduce you to the others now that your fed and clothed."

"Sounds great, and thank you Mira-chan for all of the help. I really appreciate it," Naruto said solemnly. It was rare to find a person willing to go this far out of their way to help someone they hardly knew.

"Nonsense Naru-kun. You saved me from a fate worse then death. Clothes and food is the least I can do." Her smile was one thing he didn't ever think he could get enough of.

"Hai, then lets head back to Fairy Tail," he said, a soft true smile on his face.

* * *

><p>One couldn't become as good at transformation magic as Mirajane without learning to be extremely attentive to detail. She knew there were parts of his story that Naruto omitted and with the way that he had sailed past her questions about the war, she knew that he was trying to deal with whatever he had seen.<p>

Fiore hadn't seen true war in centuries, not since the Dark Mage Zeref. Mages had their petty squabbles between guilds, but it usually ended in all out brawls instead of the bloodshed of that era. While the Council was useless in most areas regarding magic, they were very well structured at preventing war with all of the laws established on maintaining a peaceful and cohesive magical and non magical nation. There were occasionally mishaps due to the Dark Guilds that had been outcast by the Council, but it hadn't reached the destructive levels of an all out war.

As she let him back towards the Guild, once more looping her arm through his and guiding him through the streets she gave him a make-shift tour of the town. They took an opposite route back then they had taken to get there. She walked him around the town's Magic Shop, where he walked around almost like a child in a candy store, Kardia Cathedral which was one of the towns most prominent land marks, a couple of her favorite restaurants, and a few other important stops. As she pointed out the sights, she continued her lecture on guilds that they had begun while in the forest.

"The Guilds were established to keep mages in check by the council and take sanctioned jobs throughout the lands for money. Like I said, a Guild that doesn't follow the Council's rules is branded as a Dark Guild. The Balam Alliance that the man you saved me from mentioned is an alliance of sorts between the three strongest Dark Guilds. Not much is known about them though. Killing is the biggest taboo for mages and it will immediately brand you a criminal. If it was sanctioned by your guild, then your entire guild is branded as well…"

She continued to explain the intricacies of the system to him, how each job was ranked all the way up to the highest class, S-Class. She smiled as he mentioned it was a lot like the Shinobi system was before the start of the war, although he didn't elaborate.

The sun was beginning to set as the pair finally made it back to the Guild Hall when they heard yelling from inside of the building, along with loud crashes. Mirajane could only giggle at Naruto's alert expression, "Don't worry, it sounds like just about everyone is home so you can meet the group."

She chuckled at his arched eyebrow and led him inside.

To say Naruto was confused would be an understatement. It seemed as if the quiet and peaceful Guild Hall he had left had been transformed into a chaotic melee of limbs, dust, and magic.

"Ohayo everyone!" Mirajane chanted and waved as they walked in, causing the room to freeze.

It seemed word traveled pretty quickly in the guild because everyone's eyes fell immediately on the shinobi. It was hard to look at the room without laughing as each person seemed to be in mid attack as they gazed on him.

"Fairy Tail! This is our new member Namikaze Naruto! Naruto, this is Fairy Tail," she announced. He could see the pride etched across her face as she spoke of her guild. He took a closer look at everyone and noticed the large grins on their faces. There was no malice in their fight, no hatred towards anyone in the room. It almost… playful? Before he had a chance to think more on it the members had all lined up to meet him.

* * *

><p>The first man in line strolled casually towards him with a cheerful expression on his face. He looked to be one of the older members of the guild with dark blue hair and an outrageously large S shaped pendant hanging from a chain around his neck, "I'm Macao, welcome to Fairy Tail. We heard about your battle. Thanks for saving our Mirajane."<p>

Naruto firmly grasped his outstretched hand, "Thanks, I couldn't just leave her."

The next man who came up to him towered over him, "You must be very manly to defeat such an enemy so easily! Thank you for saving my sister, I'm Elfman."

Naruto repeated his sentence and continued as he began to commit faces and names to memory. There was Wakaba, a man who reeked of smoke with a very odd hairstyle who gave him a solemn look before asking what his intentions were with 'his' Mira-chan, Team Shadow Gear consisting of two males named Droy and Jey, along with a petite blue haired girl Levy, a scantily clad card reader named Cana, a severe red head named Erza…

"Fight me!"

The yell broke Naruto out of his concentration. A boy with hair the same color as Sakura was standing on top of one of the tables pointing at him, a look of determination on his face. Naruto arched his eyebrow at Mira who only smiled up at him.

"Why?" Naruto said in confusion.

"I want to see how strong you are! Lets take this outside! Come Happy!" He yelled enthusiastically as he marched out the door, flying blue cat in tow.

Flying blue cat?

"Aye sir!"

Correction. Flying blue talking cat with a tiny green backpack. _Huh. That's new._

He looked at the other members of the guild who were staring with anticipation. Mira was nudging him with her elbow trying to get his attention, "Its almost an initiation."

With a shrug Naruto turned to follow the pink haired boy outside. Just as before he passed through the doorway he heard the scantily clad woman named Cana begin shouting out odds to the other members and saw money rapidly changing hands. _Two to one odds that this guy wins? What do they take me for?_

He blocked it out and looked at his opponent who had stopped in the middle of the courtyard. A grin matching his own was stretched across the mans face, "My name is Namikaze Naruto, what's yours?"

"Natsu Dragneel. Mira says your strong, and that you beat that Erigor guy with one spell."

"It wasn't much, I don't believe the man was at full strength. I assume you have an idea what the revenge on Fairy Tail he was talking about is?"

"I kicked his ass and stopped him from killing the Guild Masters," Natsu boasted, puffing his chest and squaring his shoulders, "Here I come!"

Naruto watched as Natsu ran at him in almost disbelief. It was as if he was staring at himself back in his early genin days. There was no subtlety to the approach at all, and the cocked back flaming fist left little to the imagination of where he would strike.

"**Fire Dragon's Iron Fist!"** the rose haired Dragon Slayer screamed as he slammed his flaming fist forward.

Naruto called on the training with Kirabi and quickly analyzed the attack, putting his enhanced reflexes and shinobi speed to good use. With Eternano flowing through his body he shot out his left arm in a blur, catching Natsu's arm just below the elbow and stopping him in his tracks.

"Huh, those flames are kind of hot," the shinobi said, glancing at the fiery fist inches away from his face. He parried a round house with his forearm and took advantage of Natsu's open stance by planting a push kick to his abdomen sending the man flying back in the air, causing him to land on the ground with a grunt.

"Damn…" cursed the flame wielder as he bounced back to his feet and attacked again, **"Fire Dragon's Claw!" **He yelled, flames kicking up underneath his feet and propelling him at high speeds towards the former Jinchuuriki. Natsu smirked as he made contact, only to fly right through the blond and blast into the trunk of a tree.

Those watching the fight had begun to make a wide circle around the match, leaving more then enough room for Natsu's destructive tendencies gasped as the image of Naruto vanished when Natsu blew through it.

Natsu stood up quickly and looked around frantically before sniffing in the air and looking up. His expression turned to shock as he saw Naruto standing upside down on a tree branch directly above him, looking at him with a grin plastered on his face, **"Eternano Make: Clone Jutsu."**

It was times like this when Naruto understood exactly why Kakashi-sensei screwed with him so much when he first made the team during their spars. It was hysterical. _This Eternano stuff is a lot easier to control then chakra. Could it be because the Kyuubi's chakra isn't interfering with my techniques anymore?_

It was a question he would ask himself later. Now was a time for action. Before Natsu had a time to react, Naruto released his hold on the tree and let his momentum tackle his opponent where the two engaged in a tight taijutsu match. The boy impressed him, even with his enhanced reflexes the boy was managing to keep up with him with a line of unorthodox strikes and parries, if just barely. Flames raked through the air as the two danced between each other, strike and block, kick and parry. There was no thought, no plan, just reflexes and grins. Natsu enhanced his strikes with the power of a dragon, while Naruto utilized the years of intensive training and experience as a Leaf Ninja.

As they punched they learned. For fighters like them the truest way to identify with a person was with their fists. Emotion between warriors was something that could not be spoken or heard, only felt. Time slows down, everything around blends into the background.

Before long, Naruto broke through a hole in Natsu's defense and landed a brutal uppercut to the underside of his jaw. The attack lifted him into the air and propelled him to the other side of the courtyard.

Naruto's worries that he may have hit his new guild member too hard were immediately erased as the boy pushed himself to his feet, smiling wide with determination brimming in his eyes. _Damn this kid can take a hit. Looks like he wants to turn it up a few notches._

"**Fire Dragon's Roar!" **he bellowed. A red diagram materialized in front of him as he shot a large stream of fire at Naruto. The flames swirled in a tantalizing dance of destruction as they grew closer and closer, until the heat was licking Naruto's cheeks.

Naruto waited just before the fire touched before reacting.

* * *

><p>Mirajane watched the battle with excitement. She knew the new member was strong, but there weren't many people who could overpower Natsu in close combat. His abilities were one surprise after another and she could hardly wait to see what he would pull out next.<p>

She watched as Natsu's roar quickly reached him and grew worried when Naruto showed no signs of movement. Just before the attack landed she saw his eyes widen in what looked like surprise before the area he stood at was encased in flames.

Smoke replaced fire as his breath attack expired and there was no sign of movement. Mirajane felt her heart clench. Silence was deafening. It seemed as if everyone held their breath as the air slowly cleared. She watched as hope, anticipation and horror each battled for supremacy within her.

The anticipation made the wait agony. Finally the ground came into view, but there was no Naruto. In the place he had stood was a charred piece of the tree the two had nearly destroyed in their hand-to-hand match.

Everyone's eyes scanned the grounds as they searched for the missing member.

"**Eternano Make: Oodama Rasengan"**

The voice came from behind Natsu, and Mirajane watched in shock as a very large blue orb appeared through a magical seal in the outstretched hand of Naruto.

She looked on as Natsu slowly turned around, eyes wide at the sight of the attack. She remembered how much damage the smaller attack did to her kidnapper even through his armor and she didn't want to imagine how bad an upgraded version would be without protection.

"Submit," he said firmly as he maintained the attack just inches away from its target. The energy in the attack was palpable even from the other side of the field. She didn't think she would ever see the day when Natsu would fear anything until she caught the subtle shakes of his shoulders.

"Y-yeah…" the dragon slayer said quietly, the sound barely audible in the wind. Everyone let out a breath they didn't know they held as the attack dissipated into nothingness and the stern expression Naruto had morphed into a fox-like grin.

"Good spar," he said as he held out his hand to Natsu.

Natsu hesitated a second before squaring his shoulders and grinning back, "Yeah! How'd you dodge the roar though?"

"Super awesome ninja skills, duh. I switched places with a part of the tree behind you. You have a lot of potential, you just need to work on not projecting your attacks so much."

"Cool! Fight me again one day!"

"Hell yeah," Naruto agreed. A grin Mirajane equally matched as she took her winnings from Cana. _5 to 1 odds? How could I resist?_ The former S-Class mage knew at that moment that Naruto would fit in just fine.

"NATSU! WHAT HAVE I TOLD YOU ABOUT DESTROYING MY COURTYARD!"

Mira giggled as she watched Makarov stomp out of the guild hall and Natsu take off in a cloud of dust. The guild master grumbled before taking a long drink from the mug in his hand and walking back inside followed by the rest of the members. She waited where she stood with her hands clutched together in front over her waist as Naruto walked slowly up to her with a disarming smile, "I think I'm going to like it here."

"I'm glad. We're happy to have you Naruto. Come on, I'll give you a tour of the guild." she said as she once more looped an arm through his.

* * *

><p>Naruto sat at the bar listening to stories of other mages exploits and learning the history of Fairy Tail. A lazy smile stretched over at his face as he nodded during the pauses and occasionally took a gulp of his drink. He couldn't ever remember feeling this kind of peace. He only hoped that with his defeat of Madara that those who survived would feel it too. With Kirabi and the Hachibi being fully merged he was confident that when he died they both passed on. Typically when a Jinchuuriki died the beast would either manifest right there or the chakra would leak back into the world where it would eventually reform. Neither event occurred at Kirabi's death, and the Kyuubi being gone as well… Hopefully the cycle could be broken.<p>

He knew his friends wouldn't want him moping around because of their deaths. They would want him to move forward and find happiness. _And that's what I'll do. For them. _The more and more he thought about trying to find a way back, the more excuses he came up with to stay. He and his friends had done enough for the Shinobi lands, it was now their turn to take that gift and make something of it. _I did it Ero-sennin._

"What's on your mind, Naru-kun?" came the calming voice behind him.

He tilted his head back to look at Mirajane pouring a drink behind the bar, "I'm thinking this vacation has been years in the making Mira-chan."

Her smile was infectious, the way her lips curved gently upwards and her eyes closed in mirth. He couldn't help as one of his own sprouted along with her.

"You'll always be welcome here, take a look at the requests board when you get a chance though before you drink too much. I just updated it so none of the good jobs should be taken yet. You can stay in one of the guest rooms until you get your feet under you but most of the guild members get their own places in the town," she said as she gestured towards the board towards the end of the room. It looked like it was covered haphazardly by different post-it notes tacked into place.

Naruto smiled and thanked her before making his way over to them and reading the jobs. He got the brief rundown on the money system by Mira earlier when they were shopping.

He scanned the pieces of paper pinned up haphazardly by thumb tacks. It almost made him chuckle how similar it was to the shinobi missions, with the exception of the assassination and espionage of course. They were broken down as D-Class to A-Class, ranging from monotonous chores around the city that one of the more rich members of society offered to pay for to get entertainment, to ridding vicious beasts from villages on the other side of the continent.

_So there's a bridge that needs to be defended as it's built… I think this one would be perfect. _Naruto casually plucked the piece of paper off the board and walked back to the bar where Mirajane was standing guard over his drink for him, "Got this one, wanna come with?"

Mirajane smiled at him and shook her head. "Sorry Naru-kun but I haven't gone on a mission in years. I'm not much of a fan of fighting anymore. That one has a rather large reward on it for one person though, did you want to ask someone else in the guild for help?"

Naruto took a deep gulp of his drink before smiling at her, "Nah, I wasn't really looking for help. It would have been nice to go there with a friendly face though."

"Maybe next time Naru-kun. You'll have to give me a bit more time in advance so I could have someone cover my shift. Be safe though Naruto, they don't offer rewards like that for nothing," the woman cautioned, filling a mug with amber ale.

The blond chuckled, "You don't need to worry about me Mira-chan, I'm a badass shinobi. Believe it."

Mirajane looked at him with a warm glint in her eyes, making his heart beat fast, "I know Naru-kun, take care."

Naruto flushed and quickly hit his face behind his mug, draining the rest of it's contents. "I'll be back before you know it," he declared as he wiped a frothy mustache from his face.

The way he did the math, 300,000 Jewels was roughly the amount one would get for the completion of a B-Rank mission back in Konoha, and those were loads more dangerous… Right?

* * *

><p>Author's Notes - Thanks for the constructive criticism for last chapter, I'll get right to work correcting the mistakes. I've learned that posting chapters while still slightly inebriated isn't always the smartest decision to make xD.<p>

**Toa Naruto** Thanks for the save, I do appreciate it.

**Lord Arkan **I thought about that, but after years of everyone knowing about the Kyuubi and seeing all of his friends still fight for him seems to me like it would take the sting out of it. Its become less of a stigmata attached to him and more of a defining characteristic of how he turned out the way he did. I do respect your opinion though and thank you for sharing it. If anything else comes to mind by all means run it by me.

**Revised 6/3/2012 - Didn't add much to this one. I wanted to put an extra quest or two in here to try and make it seem a bit less rushed, but I decided to keep the pace where it was for this arc so people wouldn't feel the need to come back and re-read something they had just seen fo ronly a few seens of him walking around town kissing babies and painting fences. Removed the few random Japanese words in it and tried to smooth the dialogue and help it fit a bit better with the previous updated chapter. Hope everyone enjoys it.**


	4. Nostalgia

Naruto whistled happily as he strolled through Magnolia Town with both hands shoved in his pockets. He waved and greeted passing by civilians who returned greetings with smiles and courteous words. It seemed as if even being affiliated with Fairy Tail in this town in some way, even if not well known was enough to bring at least a baseline of respect. _Or this Town is really that kind._

He slowed his trek to a stop as he came upon Magnolia Station.

He gulped as he looked at the large metallic contraptions capable of sustaining high speed traveling almost indefinitely. The last time he had seen one had been his mission to Spring Country where every cart was loaded to the brim with kunai launchers. That was the first time he had witnessed large scale slaughter. _Easy now… This thing transports civilians daily. There's no way they use it like that._

He glanced back down at the job sheet. On the bottom of it below the rewards were directions to the build site. _Defend the workers from magical beasts in the woods and water while they complete the bridge… Why the hell would they build near a much of beasts in the first place… Anyways, take the train to Hargeon Town then follow the coast south. Sounds easy enough._

Naruto eyed the train schedule and located the train finishing up its southern route and quickly made his way over to it. He was in luck and the train was scheduled to leave in a half hour. The blond shinobi walked over to the boarding area and waited patiently in line to take his seat. Once he got closer to the front of the line he noticed people showing the guard a slip of paper before they were welcomed aboard.

_Damn… it must need a ticket, and I've got no jewels… Looks like we're going with plan B._

A gentle breeze was all the people around him felt as he disappeared, leaves swirling in the wind.

Naruto's body flicker brought him to the roof of the train where he molded Eternano to his feet to keep him from sliding off the slick metallic surface. He crouched low and stalked down to the end of the train where he could see workers loading the passengers luggage. Silently the shinobi dropped down to the baggage cart and preformed a seamless substitution with a large piece of luggage that had already been thrown into the hold before walking up to the shadowed corner where the walls of the train met the roof and once more utilized the Eternano to keep him in place. _This is going to be a long trip…_

Once the final piece of baggage was thrown into the train the door was slid shut and Naruto heard the trains engines start. He slid down the wall and onto a large box and rested.

* * *

><p>-<em>Red eyes floated behind him as he looked over the field of carnage with tear soaked eyes. The mangled bodies of those he had grown up with, fought with, laughed with stared back at him with lifeless accusing eyes.<em>

"_They died because of you Naruto," came a malignant voice echoing around him._

"_No…" Naruto choked out._

_He watched in horror as one of the corpses began to rise. Pink hair was matted in gore, and wounds littered her frail slender figure, "Naruto-kun… I thought you loved me… Where were you when we needed you?" She cried, tears of blood streaking down her pale cold face._

"_S-Sakura-chan… I didn't know… They never told me there was a war…" He tried to plead to her, to pour his heart out in hopes she would understand. He came as soon as he heard._

_More and more of the corpses stood._

_Kakashi looked down at him with shame in his eyes, "I'm disappointed in you Naruto… Your father would be ashamed of you."_

"_Kakashi-sensei…" He had no chance to reply as they all surged around him, speaking to him through lifeless lips with accusations of cowardice and abandonment._

"_It wasn't like that!" He pleaded desperately, "I came as soon as I heard. I fought Madara and won! The war is over!"_

_A cold chuckle behind him caught his attention. He turned slowly to see Uchiha Sasuke, once his best friend before his betrayals, "At what cost Naruto? What did you save?" Half of his skull was caved in from a brutal blow, but the other side's red sharing an spun in lazy mirth, "The world is brought to its knees, the Great Nations destroyed. Do you truly believe that there will be peace with such a vacuum of power? Dream on Naruto. Your so called victory will only bring a lifetime of war that will spread across the land as the strong battle for supremacy and the weak suffer. And look at you now, running away and hiding again… Pathetic."-_

* * *

><p>A loud bang and an influx of bright light brought the Shinobi back to reality. He vanished in a gust of speed out of the train and into the city with sweat coating his body. He calmed his breathing and swept the sleeve of his jacket across his drenched brow. <em>What the hell kind of dream was that…<em>

There was no answer, not that he had expected one. There were only two things that helped calm him and clear his mind. One was fighting which unfortunately wasn't possible at the moment, and the other was running.

He took off into the rooftops of the city, and utilizing the sun's position, took off at high speeds down the southern beach and quickly left the town behind in the dust.

With the energy of the world coursing through his body Naruto pushed his limbs nearly to their limits. He couldn't say how far he ran or for how long. He also couldn't count the amount of trees he had destroyed on the way. All he did know was that he had left Hargeon Town and made it to the bridge just before the sun had fallen below the horizon.

The blond stopped on a tree branch just before the beach as he came upon his destination. The bridge was impossible to miss, towering high over the water leaving room for any size ship to navigate beneath it. Tall beams and thick steel wires held the framework together. It seemed as if it was nearing completion with the exception of what looked to be battle scarring decorating the side of his hands back into his pockets he stepped off the branch to the soft sand below and walked towards a large fortified camp.

He walked the perimeter of the camp, keeping just out of sight of the nervous guards posted haphazardly on the wooden staked wall before finally deciding to make his presence known by walking to the gate. He calmly strode forward before a small man peeked over the fortifications and aimed a crossbow at him, "H-halt!" the man exclaimed shakily, "Who goes there?"

A drop of sweat hung from the back of the shinobi's head. "Wow that was lame. People still say crap like that?"

The man's eyes took on a sullen expression as a dark cloud of depression hung over him. "We're required to…" he defended sadly.

Naruto glanced up at the man sheepishly, _Wow… depressed…_ He quickly held the mission paper in the air for the man to see, "Namikaze Naruto of Fairy Tail."

"Prove it! Show your guild stamp!"

His grin quickly morphed to exasperation as he lifted the form fitting black shirt up to show the orange symbol emblazoned on his chest.

The man let out a relieved breath of air as he called down and had the gate opened for him, "Sorry, but recent events have caused us to be more cautious then usual. Where are your teammates?"

"I don't have any. I'm here alone. Where is Fujiko-san? The paper says to report to him as soon as I get here," he quickly questioned, in a hurry to get away from the odd gate keeper.

"Alone? We're doomed! Go down to the large white tent in the middle of the camp, he should be in there. I don't know how much use you'll be by yourself though," the man said mournfully before turning his gaze back on the forest and ordering the gates shut.

Naruto shrugged. He was used to being underestimated. The tent in question proved easy to find as it easily rivaled the size of a two story building. He made a bee-line towards it in hopes of getting his first mission as a mage started.

* * *

><p>Dan Fujiko was a man of vision, a man of brilliance and wealth, but not even he could foresee this. The Great Bridge's construction had been going off for the past six months without a hitch. They were making amazing time with its creation and he had invested almost all his funds into it in hopes that with a path over the ocean to the country of Mins where he could double the size of his trade routes and increase his revenue by over two hundred percent.<p>

That is until the attacks started. They began as attacks from the forest, large vulcans and other animals that while persistent were easily managed. Then they came from the sea. Large serpents attacked the ships and cranes as they attempted to complete the final stages of the project, and it just got worse from there.

Dan's thoughts were interrupted by the tent flap opening, letting in the cool evening breeze. He turned to face the entrance and locked eyes with Naruto.

"Welcome, you must be the mage from Fairy Tail. My name is Dan Fujiko, president of Fujiko Trading Company," he said, extending his hand in greeting to the anonymous mage. When he heard a Fairy Tail mage had picked up the contract his hopes had sparked. Fairy Tail was well known in Fiore for being one of the most powerful guilds in the country.

The man before him grasped his hand in a firm handshake, "Namikaze Naruto. From my greeting at the gate I assume you were expecting more then one mage?"

Dan ran a hand through his ebony hair before sliding it over his grey suit in an attempt to smooth out any wrinkles. "You would assume correctly. There's something strange at work. When we had first sent off the post we had believed it to be just creatures of the forest trying to defend their land, but then we began to notice something odd. The animals of the forest seemed to be learning our defenses. Each attack brought more damage, more lives lost. It wasn't until yesterday that one of our sentries noticed that each of the beasts had the same pale green eyes."

"It almost sounds as if they are being possessed." Naruto remarked.

"That is exactly what I fear, in which case I'm afraid that this mission has been upgraded to S-Class. I would respect your decision if you choose to leave. I sent out a missive changing the rank just before you arrived. This new intelligence makes me believe that its not an act of nature, but an act of a Dark Guild hired by my leading competitor the Arisaga Shipping Company."

"Why would you suspect them?"

"They are the ones with the most to gain and most to lose. This bridge will effectively cut a large amount of their profit with Mins Country, and if its destroyed then the amount of money I've put into building it would break my company."

The blond man before him held a contemplative look on his face before locking Dan with a firm gaze. "Don't worry Fujiko-san, I'll take care of it. I've never backed down from a mission, and I don't plan on starting now."

Before he could reply, the man was gone.

* * *

><p><em>Something isn't right here… This bridge must have been started months ago, but it looks like the attacks have started only recently. There is no way this is a coincidence. <em>Naruto leapt over the wooden wall of pointed stakes before sitting cross legged in the sand and stretching his senses out. His eyes snapped open in a feral grin. _They are coming._

It was strange seeing the creatures flood from the tree line. Unlike a chaotic rampage he would expect from a stampede, these had structure to them. There were tigers leading the charge, powerful jaws extended in ferocious roars. Behind the tigers were bears, with gorillas and other assortments of animals mixed in. If he wasn't currently staring them down he might have chuckled at seeing the squirrels bobbing between the massive paws of the larger creatures.

"**Eternano Make: Mass Shadow Clones."**

Forty diagrams appeared in the air near Naruto, coupled by a massive explosion of smoke. Before the breeze even had a chance to clear the air, blurs shot out of the concealment at high speeds, slamming into the charging force of wildlife. While the creatures were easily dispatched it was slightly difficult to keep them from the walls of the encampment, but they managed with the occasional bolt shot from the crossbowmen behind the walls.

It was unfortunate that the clones were unable to break the animals out of their possession with trauma, but in order to protect the camp behind him he did what was necessary. The actions of whoever was controlling them were unforgivable.

He stretched his senses out while the battle died down in search of the culprit behind the attack. It was difficult to make out anything with so much residue energy flowing up from the carcasses of the fallen animals._ Where are you… Aha! _The shinobi sent out a mental command for all but three of his clones to dispel, and issued orders for the three remaining to go behind the wall and gather Eternano.

Naruto took off in a burst of speed into the woods towards his opponent as adrenalin flooded his system. There was nothing quite like the high of battle.

Seconds later his target came into view. It was a tall man with ebony skin, a tall top hat on his head and a long buttoned up purple suit jacket with a high collar. His hair was in large dreadlocks and adorned with golden rings. The man wore a white dress shirt with the top buttons undone showing off the top of his well defined chest and black slacks and polished black shoes. His right hand clutched a beautiful crystal ball cane.

Naruto followed him deeper into the forest, keeping to the branches above with a silent grace. _Hopefully he'll lead me right to where he's camped._

Patience was something that every last one of the senseis that Naruto had over the years had painstakingly tried to teach him. He didn't know if it was due to that, the absence of the Kyuubi, or the calming presence of the Eternano flowing in him, or perhaps a combination of it all that was allowing him to think more clearly… but he wasn't about to start complaining now.

The man went deeper and deeper where the trees were larger and more spread apart forcing Naruto to take to higher branches in order to keep up with the man.

At the base of a large stump the man finally stopped, and after wiping a bead of sweat from his brow he placed the cane in the middle and brought his hands to either side of the smooth crystal and mumbled a few words, an incantation Naruto assumed, before small magic diagrams appeared within each hand. Once the spell was complete he began mumbling again.

The shinobi crept closer to the tall man to hear what he was saying.

"… defeated the attack with clones. The Fairy Tail stamp was on his shirt. Have you ever heard of this mage Master?"

An almost demonic sounding voice reverberated from the crystal, "He must be the new mage that disgrace of a wizard Makarov just registered. We have no information on him. Gather what you can and complete the mission then return."

"Hai Master."

The man let the diagrams in his hands fade and lifted up his staff once more before walking in the direction of the dying fire pit. _He must have just contacted his guild asking for information on me to use. Its time to take this fool out and get back to Magnolia._

Naruto dropped silently down behind the tall man and launched a devastating right hook.

Only for it to stop millimeters away from the back of the man's head.

"Namikaze Naruto, I'm glad you finally decided to join me down here. You're pretty quiet, ya know?" He said, taking a few steps before turning around and facing Naruto. His eyes were the same pale green of the possessed animals and a neatly trimmed goatee surrounded his mouth.

"Obviously not quiet enough," Naruto replied, mentally kicking himself for the screw up.

"I didn't hear you once. I couldn't see you either. You're very good at being sneaky… ya know?"

"Then how did you know I was here?" Naruto asked as he tried to move, but to no avail.

"Your energy. You're like a beacon of light in the darkest night… ya know?" A grin stretched across his face, "My codename is Puppet Master…" the man said, "of Tartaros!"

"Eh?"

A tick mark appeared, "Tartaros! Member of the Balam Alliance and one of the strongest Dark Guilds in existence, ya know?"

Naruto looked at the man with a lazy expression, "Did you say something?" _I have an idea…_

"Show some respect, loser! You're about to have the honor of dying by the hand of one of Tartaros' Top Ten ya know!" the man screamed. He grasped the pole of his cane and tugged, revealing a hidden blade attached the crystal mounted on the top. The Puppet Master wasted no time and thrust the thin blade towards the frozen shinobi's throat.

"**Kai!"**

Naruto surged the calming energy through his system like a tidal wave, freeing him from the binding hold before quickly dodging to the left and sending his leg up in a swift round house, but before he could land it he felt a tug on his other leg that caused him to face plant.

"**Kai!"**

_Its like he's actually taking over part of my body… What a frightening ability. How do you counter something like that? _Naruto glared at the man as he regained his footing and flipped back. _Shadow clones are out of the question. He's already proven that he can control a large amount things._

"It seems like we may be at an impasse here like this… although, there is a reason why I led you all the way out here to the heart of the forest… ya know?" He said as his face morphed into a maniacal grin. Just as he finished his sentence the forest floor began to shake.

On instinct Naruto dove out of the way as a gargantuan serpent erupted from the ground. Its scales were patterned in an assortment of ovals colored in red yellow and black while the remainder of its scales were a light brown. Its underside was a pure white. The snake had fangs the size of Naruto's forearms. _Well this sucks. I wish I took time to work on my seals. Hiraishin would have done the trick, unless…_

Naruto grabbed a handful of rocks that came up with the snake and threw them towards the Puppet Master, who laughed at the attempt and brought his cane up to deflect them away.

"**Eternano Make: Mass Substitution"**

Naruto was gone. The area surrounding the Tartaros member was suddenly enveloped in blue as Naruto appeared behind the man with an outstretched fist and hit him in the kidney. The man tried to turn only for the shinobi to already be gone again in another flash before striking him once more in his blind spot.

As he went to strike again he was caught in the back by the giant serpent's tail and sent soaring through the forest, slamming through two trees before crumbling into the third.

* * *

><p>The Puppet Master grinned at the devastating strike before spitting out a mouth full of blood. He walked slowly over to the downed form of Naruto and grinned at his unconscious form, "You're good, Namikaze Naruto. Its been a long time since anyone has been able to make me bleed, but you're not good enough, ya know?" He stabbed his cane down at Naruto only for the man to disappear in a puff of smoke. "What? When did he clone?"<p>

"**Eternano Make: Rasengan!"**

He turned around in shock as he watched the giant snake fall to the ground, minus a head. There was no sign of the blond mage anywhere, and he couldn't even feel the large source of energy that surged through the man like an ocean.

"_Snap."_

He turned quickly and brandished his cane sword in the direction of the sound only to see nothing.

"_Crack."_

Another sharp turn as his blade cut through empty air. "Where are you?" he shouted, "Face me!"

"Says the Puppet Master… Not used to someone else holding your strings?" The voice came from no where and everywhere at once. It echoed throughout the clearing. He felt as something was latching onto his heart. He swung again at the sound of a breaking twig. _How can someone just vanish? What is this oppressive feeling?_

"You're going to die out here, Puppet Master, and no one will ever find your corpse."

"_Snap."_

He gasped, turning too fast and tripped over the corpse of the large snake.

"**Eternano Make: Rasengan."**

And he screamed. The attack drilled into him, twisting his shoulder before it mercifully exploded, sending the Dark Mage skidding across the ground.

* * *

><p>Naruto watched the man lay in a crumpled heap. He pulled back on the Rasengan just before it would finish the man off. While killing him would make life easier, he would transport him back to Fairy Tail. Who knows, they might be able to get some information from him.<p>

"H-How?" The man groaned out.

"Magic." Naruto said with a grin before pinching the nerve on the Dark Mage's neck and sending him into a blissful sleep. He checked the mans vitals before hefting him over his shoulder and grabbing the cane. _I bet I could make some good money off of this!_

* * *

><p>Mirajane hummed softly to herself as she sorted out the new requests and began to pin them up on the board. When she got to the S-Ranked stack she gasped. <em>This is the same mission Naru-kun took!<em>

While very rare, occasionally the status of missions could change as employers learned more information. "Master!" She called out, running to catch up to the Wizard Saint, "Master, this is the same mission Naruto-kun went on. It was upgraded to S-Class, you have to send someone to help!"

Makarov Dreyar looked at her, eye-lids sagging slightly from large amounts of alcohol and hiccupped, "We don't have anyone to send who can handle it, Mira-chan. Erza left to go bring Natsu and Lucy back from the S-Class job they stole, and Laxus and Mystogun are on the other side of the country. I dislike this as much as you, but Naruto is strong. Believe in him and he'll make it back safely."

"Yeah…" Mira sadly agreed. _I should have gone with him…_

* * *

><p>At the pace he was walking it took Naruto over an hour to make it back to the beach where the encampment was. It wasn't long before he found himself in front of the gate once more staring in annoyance at the guard with the crossbow.<p>

"… I was just here two hours ago. Open the damn gate," he shouted in exasperation, causing a large vein to bulge near his temple.

"Identification," the guard deadpanned.

"Does it look like I have any free hand to lift my shirt? To hell with this." He crouched low before leaping the gate and landing gently on the other side and made straight for the large white tent.

"Ohayo Fujiko-san!" Naruto exclaimed as he stepped through the flap.

"Namikaze-san, back so soon? Is that the one behind the attacks?" the Trader asked

"Yep, he called himself the Puppet Master. I'm going to bring him back to Fairy Tail and see what the master wants to do with him. That should keep everything off your back so that you can finish the bridge." the shinobi replied, "and if its all the same to you, I'm going to spend the rest of the time relaxing on the beach."

Without anymore interruptions the rest of the bridge was finished within two weeks. Two weeks that Naruto spent just as he said he would, relaxing. The engineers fashioned a steel prison to keep the Puppet Master for the duration of the stay, and also bound, gagged, and blindfolded him to keep him from using his magic on any of the workers.

"Namikaze-san, a word please." Dan called, interrupting Naruto's packing.

"Yes, Fujiko-san?"

He handed him a large suitcase, "Here's the money for the job. I know you accepted the job back when it was still labeled regular, but I threw in the amount listed on the S-Class mission. My company and I owe you a debt of gratitude. I'll be sure to spread the word of your bravery through my contacts."

Naruto took the suitcase with a grin, "I've never backed down from a mission, no matter what happened in it. This one was no different. Thank you for the reward, and if you ever need anything else you know which guild to call."

"Most definitely. I've taken the initiative to arrange for your transport to Hargeon Town so you don't have to haul the Puppet Master across country. Take care Naruto," he said as he held out his hand.

Naruto gripped it firmly and shook, "You too Dan," he said warmly. He lugged the tied up mage up on his shoulder and into the vehicle and sat down on the bench. The ride to Hargeon Town was mostly spent being roughly thrown around for three hours.

They made good time though, arriving just as the clock hit noon. Naruto went straight to the station and bought two tickets for a private chamber and spent an hour using the unfortunate criminal as a foot rest as they made it the rest of the distance to Magnolia Town.

Naruto watched through the windows as he saw the town break through the horizon. He was excited to be back.

When the train came to a halt he got up and slung the Puppet Master back over his shoulder and grabbed the rest of his belongings he obtained and exited the train to a welcome sight, "Natsu, Erza!" he yelled, as he saw the two on the other side of the terminal. The tension in the air between them was palpable, and when Gray and Lucy, two other Fairy Tail mages walked up to them with their eyes downcast he knew he missed something important.

Erza looked at Naruto with a piercing gaze, "Namikaze-san, why do you have a tied up man on your shoulder?"

"I didn't know you were into those kind of activities!" the talking blue cat said.

"What! I captured him on my mission and wasn't sure of the protocol for mages from Dark Guilds so I just brought him with me."

"Usually they are just dropped off with the law enforcement, but if you've already lugged him this far you might as well bring him to Master," Erza said

"You llliiiiikkkkeeee hiiimmm…" said Happy, rolling his tongue with the pronunciation.

"Shut up you stupid cat!"

Naruto fell in step with the four as they made their way back to the guild hall, "So what's with all of the tension?"

"Natsu and Lucy stole an S-Class mission from the board without authorization and Gray followed them. I'm escorting them back to Master for punishment," she said stone faced.

Natsu looked at Gray with a horrified look in his eyes, "Gray, do you think he's going to do… IT?"

Whatever IT was, it certainly terrified the two. When Lucy asked them what it was, the two looked almost as if they would break down in tears. Naturally it caused Lucy to be even more terrified.

The thought however was quickly erased from everyone's mind though as they came into view of the Guild Hall… or what was left of it. Large metal poles penetrated it in almost every direction. It was obvious that in their absence the guild had come under attack.

The group ran towards the building, calling out for any of the members. Panic began to set in until Mirajane stepped out of the building with another of her heartwarming smiles, "Welcome back, I'm so glad you all are safe. Everyone has been worried sick. They are all in the basement along with the Master, I'm sure he wants to see you four."

The four members of Team Natsu trudged into the wreckage of the guild hall while Naruto dropped the Puppet Master off his shoulder and looked at Mirajane with a smile. Just as he was about to speak she flung herself at him into a hug.

"When we got the upgraded mission card I was so worried," Mira cried, clutching tightly to him.

"Mira-chan…" he gently wrapped his arms around her waist, "You don't need to worry about me."

Mira sniffed before breaking the hug, "I'm sorry," she said, looking up at him and smiling, "I'm glad you're back."

Naruto grinned back at her and offered his elbow, "So what happened with the guild?"

She looped her arm through his and let him through the wreckage, "last night the guild hall was attacked. We were lucky no one was inside when they stuck."

"Who did it?"

"Phantom Lord."

* * *

><p>Author's Notes - Thanks for the reviews y'all, its nice to know when ones work is appreciated.<p>

**Chm01** Eternano from what I understand is the particles that make up the magic in the land. The reason behind it staying Eternano Make, even though it is a bit to type, will be explained later in the story I promise.

**Revised 6/3/2012 - Corrected a few spelling errors and got rid of more of the pesky random Japanese words dotting the chapters. Not much else was edited. If you see any mistakes by all means just let me know and I'll get right on it.**


	5. Guild War

Even in his short time in Fiore Naruto heard of the famous Phantom Lord guild. They were said to have been the most powerful guild in the country for years until a recent influx of powerful members joined Fairy Tail and skyrocketed them into the spot light. _Weren't they an official guild?_

When he shared his thoughts with the guilds cover girl she replied, "Tensions between the two guilds have been pretty high with us both contending for the top spot. Still, this attack is borderline Dark activity… I'm not sure what the council will do." In afterthought she mentioned, "Oh, your man slave is sneaking away."

"Its not like that!" The blond shinobi shouted, veins bulging in his forehead. His free hand gripped a piece of rubble from the destruction and sent it flying into the back of the Puppet Master's head. The man collapsed in a heap of limbs as a large lump rapidly erupted through the side of his top hat. Grumbling, Naruto brought his fingers into the cross sign and willed a copy of himself into existence, "Take that trash inside and wait for me while I get Master Makarov. Don't let him slip away."

The clone stood straight as a board and brought his hand up in a mock salute, "Right away boss!"

As the pair walked through a cleared path that twined around a few of the metallic posts Naruto couldn't help but compare the damage to Konoha. Images flashed within his mind as a painful reminder of what he had lost. He couldn't help but wonder what Sakura would think of him now. He missed her… he missed his friends who had passed. _Never again._

"Naru-kun? Is everything alright?"

The gentle voice interrupted his thoughts as he shook his head and cleared his mind. _There will be time to mourn later, _he thought again, glancing down at the white haired girl and forcing a smile on his face. "Just surprised."

She smiled back at him, although it didn't quite reach her eyes. He could tell she didn't buy it, the questioning gaze still dominant in her eyes, but she took the hint and started walking again with him in tow. _When did we stop?_

They took the flight of stairs which were mostly intact down to the basement area where the rest of his guild members sat around a mass of round wooden tables in silence. His keen eye gazed around the room at the somber group of people. The usually rowdy bunch were staring into their mostly full mugs with pained expressions on their faces. He finally leveled his view to the guild master… and proceeded to sweat drop.

The pervy old man was currently spanking Lucy while lecturing Natsu and Gray. The poor blond girl had a look of indignation plastered across her face. Over the years Naruto grew to appreciate the female physique more and more, but that dude was like ninety. _Gross!_

He followed Mirajane's steps to the group at the end of the room before finally being brought to a halt in front of the Guild Master. "Ohayo!"

"Naruto-san! Welcome back. I hope your mission went well?" Makarov exclaimed, his eyes brimming with a look of pride.

The gaze itself was enough to bring a soft smile to his face. "Yeah. Had a run-in with a guy who said he was from some weird guild called Tartaros though."

Beer from roughly every table within spitting reach of him shot out and drenched the blond as the members gasped. "Tartaros you say? I'm glad my faith in you wasn't unfounded Naruto-san, Tartaros is a nasty bunch. That's the only Dark Guild that we have no information on at all. Their members tent to cut out any loose ends once they finish a job."

"He mentioned something about that, and a Balam Alliance as well. I figured you wanted to talk to him so I brought him with me. He's upstairs with my clone," the shinobi mentioned nonchalantly as he helped himself to a mug of ale from the tap behind Makarov.

"Impressive Naruto-san," the old man complimented as he emptied his cup and passed it over his head for Naruto to refill.

Naruto took the mug, filling it with the dark brown ale and passing it back. "It was nothing. The guy liked to talk more then he liked to fight. So what's going on? I get back and the guild is in shambles. Everyone seems to be down in the dumps except for you."

"None of my children were harmed in this attack," he stated with a grandfatherly expression on his face, "buildings can be rebuilt, all that matters is the safety of the members. Their cheap tactics of attacking the building in the middle of the night while no one else is around will only be seen as cowardice. Jose Porla was a fool to attack like this."

"Jose Porla?" Naruto questioned.

"The Guild Master of Phantom Lord. He's also one of the Ten Wizard Saints like me." When he looked into Naruto's eyes and saw no recognition he sighed, "The Ten Wizard Saints are chosen by the council as the top ten wizards in all of Fiore. Anyways, he has always been jealous of Fairy Tail ever since we began our rise to fame. Our fight at one of the Guild Masters meetings didn't help either," the diminutive man said grinning.

"You got in a fight at a meeting?" Naruto asked, enraptured in the story.

"It was after everything we needed to discuss was discussed and we got to drinking. We were all bragging about our members when Jose began to bad mouth Fairy Tail. So naturally I had to hit him mouth."

Naruto chuckled and the same warmth he had felt from old man Sarutobi whenever he spoke about Konoha. The blond shinobi could tell Makarov truly loved his guild. "Did you win?" he asked.

"Win?" he exclaimed, "I kicked his ass so bad that he hasn't shown up for another guild masters meeting in years!"

Naruto laughed with him and downed the rest of his mug and felt the warmth radiate over him. _Gah, _he thought, _all those years of Kyuubi burning off anything deemed poisonous prevented me from building a tolerance to this stuff. One mug in and I'm already kind of buzzed._

"Anywho Naruto-san, show me this Tartaros member you brought," Makarov said, hopping off of the bar counter without any hint of old age showing in his movements.

"Yes Master," he complied, and led the small mage upstairs.

They found the clone and captive in a storeroom connected to the main hall. The Naruto clone was sitting on the small of the Puppet Master's back with its feet propped up on a mound of broken lumber with a magazine called _The Weekly Sorcerer_ in his hands. He peered up from the magazine as the two strode into the room, "Yo boss,"

Naruto waved before dispelling the clone in a small blast of smoke. _Huh, I made the paper._

He picked up the fallen magazine and flipped it to the small article towards the back as Makarov began prodding the unconscious mage with his foot and began to read.

_**Fairy Tail's Newest Member**_

_Makarov Dreyar must be doing something right with his guild, because they just keep getting stronger and stronger. Eye witness reports state that a member of the famous (or infamous) guild known for its appetite for destruction took part in a dangerous rank swap mission alone. _

"_When we first sent out the request we had believed the mission to be something a regular team of mages could handle and had it classified as a B-rank. We obtained additional information and sent a notice for the rank to be changed to S-Class, but at that point the man had already accepted and traveled to us," Dan Fujiko, president of Fujiko Trading Company stated._

_When informed of this change apparently this man smiled and was quoted saying, "Don't worry about it."_

_Stanley, one of the gate guards of the encampment commented on his magic, "He could create copies of himself and move faster then my eyes could see. He took the battle deeper into the woods so we couldn't see anything else. He came back though without a scratch on him and an unconscious man slung over his shoulders that he wouldn't let anyone near."_

_Its obvious Fairy Tail has gained a powerful new mage, but where did he come from? What kind of person is he? _

_Who is this Naruto Namikaze?_

_By Cameron Fitz_

He chuckled at the article, _It seems Fujiko wrote the paper about me._

A grunt pulled his attention away from the magazine as the Puppet Master groggily woke up from his forced nap. Naruto watched in awe as golden runes stretched across the room covering every wall.

"Ugh… Wha-where am I?" the ebony skinned man forced out, attempting to cradle his injured head with his bound hands.

"You're at Fairy Tail," came the short reply from the Guild Master.

The Puppet Master groaned, and pushed himself to a seated position, "I'm guessing this is an interrogation then?"

"Your assumption is correct. Are you a member of Tartaros?" Makarov questioned, the firm expression never leaving his face.

"Yes," came the forced reply, "W-what the hell kind of runes are these?"

"Its called the Ward of Truth. Within the boundaries only the truth may be spoken."

Naruto gazed at the strange symbols coating the walls with a new found respect. _Our Torture and Interrogation Department would shit a brick to get their hands on something like this_

"How many members does Tartaros have?" The master questioned once more.

Naruto could see veins bulging in the Puppet Master's neck as he fought to resist the technique. He bit his lip, causing a light stream of blood to drip down his chin into the well maintained goatee before finally grounding out, "E-Eighty-seven."

"Where are you located?"

The man struggled even more. His entire body was shaking as he grit his teeth. Naruto looked down at the suitcase that contained his reward from Fujiko-san along with a few bobbles and trinkets he had picked up and saw it vibrating on the ground.

"C-cro-cus," he moaned out painfully.

"Who is your Guild Master?" Makarov fired back.

"Ungh…" the Puppet Master grunted before the suitcase flung open. Naruto watched in horror as the crystal ball lit up in a bright red light before releasing a second later. A thin vicious red beam struck the Puppet Master between his eyes and caused him to let out an unearthly scream. He thrashed violently as both the shinobi and esteemed guild master stood by helplessly and frozen in shock. Blood poured from the orifices on his face before the beam finally vanished just as quickly as it had struck.

When the smoke finally cleared around the captive they looked at his smoking remains in pity. His face was twisted in a scream of pain as blood streaked his body. The spot that the beam had struck left an inch wide hole that was charred along the edges. Naruto had to turn his head away. The smell of burning flesh was overpowering.

Makarov leaned down and closed the dead man's eyes with his right hand before mumbling, "Pity…" He looked up to Naruto with a face full of grief, "Seeing a man die is never easy, as specially when its as brutal with this. I'm sorry you had to witness it."

Naruto waved off his concern with a shaky hand, "No one could have expected this to happen. At least we now know what to expect with them though." He closed his eyes and composed himself before walking out of the room with Makarov, "Where is Crocus?"

"Crocus is the capital of Fiore, where the King rules over the land. Its curious that they would establish a base of operations there with so many rune knights and the kings own personal mages protecting the city," the old man stated as his fingers rubbed his chin. He brought his hands to one of the runes on the walls and flared his magic causing the ones surrounding them to shatter. "The runes also doubled by keeping the room silent, so no one in the guild should have heard the screams. I would advice washing up before going back down to the basement however, if only to avoid Natsu's nose and pestering questions. There is a bathroom in the guest wing that is still semi-operable. The only problem with it is that the pipe in the shower was damaged making it to where we couldn't shut it off."

"Yes Master," Naruto said wearily, his own enhanced smelling desperately making him want to leave the room.

He followed the directions into the half flooded room and shrugged his clothes off, his hand lightly tracing along the guild emblem stamped on his sternum. While no one else in this dimension might have known what it meant for him to take it, he did. _Missing nin…_ It was a term used to describe a ninja who betrayed or abandoned their village. While the decision was an impulsive one, he knew deep down in his heart that he made the right choice. Konoha was gone. Those who accepted him for who he was… Not as the Hero who defeated Pein, not as the Jinchuuriki of the Kyuubi, but as Naruto… They were gone. They died to protect him.

With the death of the last Uchiha and Naruto's disappearance from the world the Bloodline of the Sage of the Six Paths was ended. No one else would be able to chain the tailed beasts to their wills. Those that remained would stay trapped within the statue that Akatsuki sealed them in, and when Kirabi died Naruto didn't sense the energy of the tailed beast leaving its hosts body so he assumed that the Hachibi passed on as well.

Because of his fathers seal he knew the Kyuubi would never threaten the lands again. When he split the beasts chakra in two during the original sealing process he removed the Yin chakra and sealed it within himself. The Kyuubi would be unable to sustain any semblance of form without it.

He kept telling himself these facts were the reason he wasn't searching for a way back, that him returning would only make problems worse… but deep in his heart he knew the truth. It was because he was selfish… because he was tired.

For eighteen years Naruto dealt with the stigma of being a demon host. He smiled through the tears of loneliness and neglect. He forced his way through when everyone else either sabotaged him or told him he would fail. He fought tooth and nail for just to be recognized as a person instead of a monster. In the end, all of the effort was for naught. He wasn't Naruto to the world. He was still the host of the Kyuubi. It didn't matter whether he was strong enough to take down Pein, who held the legendary Rinnegan. All that mattered was what he held in his gut.

Fairy Tail was a chance to start fresh. A chance to make a name for himself and be respected as a person for his own strengths and his own abilities. It was a place where he could end the loneliness that threatened to devour him.

He smiled as he felt the warm water run down his neck… It was a place he could call home.

* * *

><p>Naruto shook his still damp hair like a dog as he walked down the steps to the basement level with a peaceful look on his face. He looked at the large number of mages still sitting at the tables talking lowly to each other and smiled. <em>This is my new family now.<em>

Nearly every member was crowded into the ground level with the exception of a small few. It was hot and humid, but it didn't deter anyone. They were all willing to forgo a small bit of comfort to be there for those who had become their closest friends, brothers and sisters in all but blood.

Naruto strode up to the bar where Makarov and Erza were quietly talking, "Ohayo!" he exclaimed cheerfully.

"Naruto-san! You seem refreshed," the guild master stated as he finished the last drop of his mug, a cherry flush coloring his cheeks, "Sit down and have a drink! Mira-chan, Naruto-sans round is on me!"

"Naruto-san," Erza nodded respectfully.

Naruto graciously accepted the ice cold draft from the beautiful bartender and slid comfortably onto the stool next to the two powerful mages. "Y'all look serious. What's the topic?"

"Phantom Lord," Erza stated with a grim expression on her face, "They wouldn't just attack our guild hall for no reason. There will be a follow up attack."

"Erza-chan, don't be absurd. Jose is many things, but even he isn't that dumb. Since none of our members were attacked, the most that will happen to Phantom Lord is a hefty fine from the council, but if they begin assaulting our members then they run the risk of being ordered to disband," Makarov answered.

Naruto closed his eyes in thought before replying to the two, "Master, I agree with Erza. An attack like this wasn't just a spur of the moment decision. Its not worth the risk if this was all there was to it. This first attack was bait. We should be prepared for the worst when he realizes it didn't work."

Makarov hopped down from the high stool and down to the floor, stumbling slightly at the dismount. "I guess a bit of preparation couldn't hurt. Enforce a buddy system. Make sure none of our members leaves this room tonight without at least one other person with them. Safety in numbers, eh?"

"Very well Master, are you leaving?" Erza asked.

"Yes, Erza-chan. You and Naruto-san seem to have everything in order here. If you need me just use the lacrima to communicate with me. I had it brought down and put in the storeroom behind the bar," the old man said as he walked out of the room.

Erza stood up as Makarov left the room, "Everyone listen up! Effective immediately all members will be required to stick with one or more other guild members when you leave this hall. This includes sleeping arrangements. If you have a team, just pick whichever one has the biggest places. Those of you who don't have teams talk to other members. Someone will be happy to take you in until everything calms down."

If Naruto hadn't been already introduced to the level of crazy this guild offered, he would have been shocked instead of amused when a massive brawl broke out on who would stay with who even with current events.

Erza looked over at him with a questioning look, "Naruto-san, where will you be staying?"

Before he had the chance to answer, Mirajane leaned over the counter between the two, "He's going to stay with me and Elfman! We have a spare room that he can use."

"It will be such a manly occasion Naruto-san!" came a yell from the other side of the room where Elfman was standing with one leg propped on a chair and a balled fist raised high above his head.

"Its settled then!" the ivory girl said, her smile infectious and her eyes closed in glee.

"I-uh-okay?" came the reply from Naruto, still reeling from the blind side.

"It's the least I can do to repay you for helping me that one day," she said, looking down slightly in embarrassment.

"Thank you, but I was just doing what anyone else would have done." Naruto said.

"Naruto, I'm still not exactly sure where you're from but there aren't that many people in Fiore willing to risk their lives for someone they had never met before," Mirajane said honestly, placing a hand on Naruto's forearm.

"Mira-chan, you've already bought me an entire set of clothes. Honestly just seeing you safe and happy is a reward enough for me," he said, itching the back of his neck. It was rare when he was praised for anything and it still made him feel a bit uncomfortable.

"Well, then with you staying with us you can help Elfman protect me!" Mira exclaimed with a victorious grin on his face.

"Ha, I guess I walked in to that one," he said chuckling. He looked into her big blue eyes and found that the last thing he could ever do was say no to them, "Fine, fine. I'll stay with you two tonight."

Mirajane winked at him and beamed, "I knew you'd come around Naru-kun. We usually leave after everyone else does. Elfman helps me clean the bar up when we close up everything. Get out there and mingle with your guild mates though, I'm sure they're all wanting to know more about you after making the Weekly Sorcerer while only being in a guild for two weeks," she said, nudging him out of his safety net and into the crowd.

Naruto took a chug of his drink before walking over to a table where Macao and Wakaba sat, "Hey guys, is this seat taken?"

Macao gestured to one of the chairs with his free hand while Wakaba lifted his feet off and slid it out towards him, "Sure, have a seat Naruto."

"Thanks Macao-san, Wakaba-san," he said as he sat down in the offered seat.

"Drop the formalities Naruto, we're guild mates. That makes you family. Its Macao and Wakaba," the blue haired man stated with a wave.

"Thanks guys," Naruto said with a grin, relaxing a bit into his seat.

"Don't mention it. So we hear you pulled off one hell of a job down south. B-Class turned S and completed solo is pretty damn impressive for a rookie member," Wakaba said as he took a deep drag of his pipe, blowing smoke rings over his shoulder.

"Yeah, good one on that. Missions like that help the guild's recognition more then anything else. So what was that magic you were using against Natsu? I don't think I've ever seen anything quite like it," Macao asked.

"Uh I'm actually still trying to figure it out myself. I have a technique that lets me absorb the Eternano in the land and use it with my moves. I just started calling it Eternano Make for simplicity I guess, and it just kind of feels right," he stated sheepishly, rubbing the back of his head.

"So you absorb the energy from outside instead of using your own? That's pretty scary. Pretty versatile too," said the smoker.

"Yeah, I'm still fairly new with it though. I figured out the technique not too long ago and haven't had too much time to experiment. I figure that with this money I got from the last mission I should have plenty to keep me tided over where I can get some training and try out some ideas," Naruto replied, pondering on the different techniques that had been running through his mind.

"You seemed pretty damn practiced in it when you took on the brat, that's for sure. If you need any help with it you can always ask either one of us. We're usually around the guild," Macao flashed him a grin, and Wakaba gave him a thumbs up.

"Thanks guys, so what kind of magics do y'all use?" the shinobi asked in curiosity.

"Wakaba here," Macao said, pointing over to the man with the protruding hair, "Is a Smoke Magic user. That pipe he's got isn't just for relaxing. I'm a Purple Flare user, I can manipulate a purple colored fire for all sorts of different attacks."

"Cool, we'll have to spar one day so I can see them," Naruto said with a grin, "So Mirajane mentioned you two have been around here longer then almost everyone else except Master Makarov, can you tell me a bit about the guild?"

And that's how Naruto spent his time while waiting for the Take-Over siblings, laughing at the outrageous stories told by the two elder mages and drinking to his hearts delight. When they realized they were the last group remaining both Macao and Wakaba mentioned having to leave and check on their families before playing a match of rock-paper-scissors to see who's place they would be staying at. Wakaba won, much to his dismay.

Naruto waived farewell to the two before walking back in the direction of Mira and Elfman. "Need any help with the clean-up?"

"Sure Naru-kun. Elfman is going to take care of the dishes. Would you mind helping me clean the tables and floors?" she asked kindly.

"Okay," he brought his hands up in the cross patterned seal and gathered the Eternano before shouting, **"Eternano Make: Mass Shadow Clones!"**

The two ivory haired members watched in astonishment as thirty solid replicas of Naruto stepped through the blue diagrams, "Such a powerful magic! Naruto you truly are manly!" Elfman exclaimed as he rushed into the kitchen and began cleaning the dirty mugs.

Naruto sweat dropped. _Good god, replace manly with youthful and its like another Rock lee... Lets just pray he never learns how to do illusions, because if I have to see another one of those damn sunsets I'll snap, _he thought before ordering his small army of clones to work. What would have taken well over an hour with just the three of them had been drastically shortened to fifteen minutes.

"I knew you could make copies of yourself, but I didn't think you could make that many," Mirajane praised as she reached into her ample bosom and pulled out the guild hall key.

Naruto quickly turned his head to hide his blush, "I can do more then that, but the more I make the fewer commands they can follow."

When he turned her saw her knowing grin which caused him to blush even deeper. He was thankful that she made no comment in front of her sibling, "How much can you make at one time then?"

"I'm not sure actually, I've never really tried to push the limit with them." he said. _I can't make as many as I could with chakra, that's for sure… I'll have to test it later._

"I'll take you out to one of the training grounds behind the guild hall one day then where you'll have more room then the basement, lets get going though… Being outside after the attack is kind of creepy," Mirajane said as she looped her arm through his and guided him through the cobblestone roads pointing out land marks that she didn't get to show him after they were finished shopping.

Their house wasn't far away from the guild, just a little over a mile and a half that the trio spent in a comfortable silence with the occasional mention of a place from Mirajane. It was a decent sized townhouse with three bedrooms and two baths nestled between two other identical townhouses. What little lawn each place had was well maintained with neatly trimmed bushes lining the walls.

Elfman unlocked the door with a click and beckoned the two in before shutting it and locking the door behind them with a bolt. "The bedrooms are all upstairs along with one of the bathrooms, down here is the kitchen, living room and dining room. Oh, the other bathroom is just across the hall from the kitchen. You can hang up your jacket in the closet over here," the tall man said as he made his way up the stairs.

"Don't mind him, he's just exhausted. Its been a long day for everyone," Mira said to him as he slipped his jacket onto one of the hangers inside the small closet before sliding the door shut, "Now come on," the ivory haired girl grinned, "I'll show you to your room."

Naruto followed the girl up the stairs. He didn't know whether to blame the alcohol or the hypnotizing sway of her hips, but his eyes remained glued on the backside of the beautiful girl in front of him.

The knowing smile on her face when they reached the top made him gulp. She let him to a room on the right and opened the door to reveal a traditional room with a full size bed, a chest of drawers and a night stand with an alarm clock showing the time at 1:23 AM. "It usually takes me a lot longer to clean up so I'm not usually home until around 3, so I'm going to get changed and go down stairs for a snack if you'd like to keep me company."

Naruto nodded towards her and sat down on the spring mattress. It wasn't the most comfortable thing in the world, but it beat a hastily dug hole after a long night of battle any day. As he went to untie the black cloth band around his forehead Elfman poked his head inside the door and tossed him a soft pair of pants, "Here's a pair of pajamas that I grew out of a long time ago. They should fit you. Good night Naruto, have manly dreams!"

"Ehh thank you and good night?" Elfman shut the door behind him and Naruto began unraveling the cloth bandages around his shins. He changed out of the cargo pants and into the blue and green striped pajamas before making his way down stairs. _Mira must still be changing_, he thought as he began to explore the lower portion of the house. Hanging on the wall was a picture of what looked like Mirajane and Elfman when they were much younger, along with a girl who bore a striking resemblance to them with a gentle smile between the two.

He was slightly shocked to see the very revealing an gothic style of clothing she was wearing. It was like a young Ino, but with black instead of purple. He heard footsteps coming down the stairs and turned to see Mira in a light pink nightgown. He chuckled when he noticed that even without her hair tie her bangs still remained in their upright position.

"Want a sandwich?" she asked as she ran her fingers through her hair absent-mindedly.

"I'll have one of whatever you are. I'm not picky," he said with a grin.

She smiled softly at him and walked into the kitchen, "Have a seat at the table and I'll have it right out."

Naruto sat down and waited patiently for a few minutes before the she came back out with two plates balanced on her left arm and two glasses of ice water in her right. She sat down and placed the plates on the table, sliding Naruto his cup and sandwich before taking a dainty bite out of the corner, "Mmm… I love turkey and cheese."

"Thanks Mira-chan, for the food and the place to stay," Naruto said, taking a bite out of the sandwich. _Damn, not bad._

"Its my pleasure Naru-kun. I have a question though, when we first met you mentioned a lot of places I've never heard of. I checked the books in the library and asked Levi but I couldn't find a mention of them anywhere. You also mentioned some kind of battle?"

Naruto hesitated, something Mirajane instantly picked up on, "Its okay if you don't want to tell me now, everyone has their secrets."

Naruto gulped down a mouthful of water to rinse the bite of sandwich down and stared at the swirling cubes of ice, "No its alright, you seem like a person I can trust. You just have to promise not to tell anyone though," he said shooting her a pleading look.

"I promise."

"I don't believe I'm from Earthland at all," he said as he gauged her reaction. She showed no signs of shock so he guessed she had figured that out after her research, "Konohagakure was my home, and I was a registered Jounin ranked shinobi. The shinobi nations were at war with a very powerful terrorist organization called Akatsuki, and the battle I mentioned was the final battle of the war, or so I presume. I defeated their leader by mixing two very potent energy sources. After my final attack I lost control and the energies in me imploded. I believe they are what sent me here."

He watched as she slowly chewed the bite in her mouth before swallowing it and washing it down with a sip of water, "We're lucky here to have not seen true war in so long. It must have been awful. I know you probably don't want to talk in detail about it, but when you are I'll be here for you,"

It was one of the nicest things anyone had ever told him. It was this that solidified his stance even more on staying, "Thank you Mira-chan, I really mean it. Some of the things though, I'm just not ready to talk about."

"That's all right Naru-kun. How about you tell me stories about your home before the war," she said as she placed a comforting hand on his wrist.

"Well lets see… When I was in the Academy I was the best prankster Konoha had ever known…"

* * *

><p>Mirajane chuckled softly at the stories of Naruto's youth. They had been passing them back and forth for almost two hours, "and I painted the entire monument in broad day light. No one could catch me except Iruka-sensei, who made me scrub it clean… but I got free ramen out if it so I still consider it a win."<p>

His laugh was infectious, and she couldn't help but follow with one of her own. _He's still hiding so much pain though, _she thought as she frowned behind her drink, _One of these days I'll get him to open up and tell me his full story. Just have to be patient thought. _"I think its time for bed though," she said as she yawned, causing a chain reaction in the blond as well, "Its past 3, I'll see you in the morning Naru-kun, sleep tight," she said as she walked up and gave him a quick gentle hug.

She felt him stiffen up before wrapping his arms around her tenderly. It was obvious to her from his stories and actions that he hadn't grown up with much affection at all. "Good night Mira-chan."

The pair walked up stairs and split off to their respective rooms before enjoying a blissful night of sleep.

* * *

><p>"<em>KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK!"<em>

Naruto was jolted awake by the loud sound.

"_KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK!"_

"Mirajane, Elfman wake up! There's been an attack!" yelled a voice. Naruto needed no more coaxing then that, and in seconds he had swapped his sleeping attire for his new clothing bandages and all and ran down the stairs. He opened the door to see the skimpily clad drunk female he had usually seen at the bar.

"Naruto! Get Elfman and Mirajane and come to the park at once!" She exclaimed before taking off and heading down the block.

He looked up the stairs to see the two already dressed and making their way down. "We heard Naruto. It must be Phantom Lord! This is so unmanly of them!" Elfman exclaimed as he ran out the door. Naruto grabbed his coat from the closet and followed after him with Mirajane hot on his heels.

When they arrived at the park they noticed a good bit of the other members standing around with looks of outrage. It didn't take them long to figure out why. Three members were were crucified to the tree with large iron cuffs that were bolted into the thick trunk, unconscious by the gentle rise of their chests. They were covered in welts and bruises and their clothes were shredded in multiple places. The girl in the middle seemed to have garnered the most attention from the assailant, as her blue shirt was torn open although her modesty was preserved by her still intact bra. On her battered abdomen was the sign of the guild Phantom Lord emblazoned in black. _Team Shadow gear, _he remembered from the introductions.

His hands shook in fury as he walked up to the tree and stepped up it, ignoring the gasps as he scaled the vertical surface with just his feet. He grasped onto one of the metal plates and ripped it off, before moving to the next one. By the time he had removed the last restraint from the girl he gently cradled her to his chest and looked down, finally noticing the presence of the Guild Master. His hands were clenched and knuckles white, "I could handle them attacking my building, but Phantom Lord has now gone too far! No one attacks my children! I declare war on Phantom Lord!" the Master yelled, shattering the force of the staff in his hands with his furious grip. "Naruto, Natsu and Gray, get those three down and get them to the hospital then meet us at the guild hall!"

"Yes Master!" the three said in tandem. Naruto gently passed the injured girl off to the Ice Mage before removing the other two from the tree. The man in the top hat he handed to Natsu.

"Come, they need medical attention quickly," he announced as he made a bee-line straight towards the hospital, thankfully one of the places Mirajane had pointed out to him last night.

Once they checked the three into the intensive care unit and were informed that the vitals were stable they rushed back to the guild.

As they pushed down the stairs they found everyone's eyes on them, "How are they?" Makarov called out, his voice stern as he tried to contain the unbridled fury.

"Sedated now. The doctors said they should make a full recovery though." Naruto replied

"Good. Gather your things, we're leaving immediately!" he ordered

Nodding, Naruto made his way over to Mirajane. She stood alone looking a little lost with unshed tears shimmering in her eyes. Naruto gently pulled her into a hug that immediately broke the dam, "why would anyone do something like this?" she cried.

The blond shinobi didn't know what to possibly say, so her just held her tighter and rubbed her back. "Be careful Naru-kun… Don't let them hurt any more of my family," she said as she looked into his eyes with a shaky gaze.

"I'll look after them Mira-chan, stay safe," he said before giving her one final squeeze and letting go. By that time most of the guild had already made it outside where most of the guild members had already gathered, with the exception of a few key note mages who were chosen to stay behind and look after the remnants of the guild and their injured comrades.

Naruto walked somberly over towards Erza Scarlet and Master Makarov who stood off away from the mass with strained faces, "Master, I'll run ahead of the group and do some recon if you can show me where on a map their guild headquarters are."

Makarov pulled a folded piece of paper from his pocked and opened it up showing a map of Fiore, "I'll key your signature into it," he said as his face adopted a look of concentration. A small chibi verison of himself appeared by a preexisting dot that Naruto had assumed was a mark for the guild hall, "you'll be traveling here," he said pointing at a small dot to the north, "the other figure on the map will be me, so you'll know where the main body of our attack will be. Be careful Naruto-san"

The shinobi took the map in his hands and mock saluted the elder before bringing then into the ram sign and gathering waves of magical energy into his body, "Leave it up to me Master, I won't let you down."

In a swirl of leaves he was gone.

What would normally take a days traveling took only two hours for the swift shinobi. He traversed over the flat lands with huge leaps. To the untrained eye all that could be seen was a streak of yellow and white. When the shinobi finally reached the guild headquarters of Phantom Lord, he looked at it in awe. The large castle structure towered over the land in medieval splendor, overlooking the town it was nestled against. He stood on a hill admiring it from a distance, _Man, how come they get the badass building and all we have is a two story pub? We've definitely got to upscale the renovations when we rebuild, be cause this place is just awesome._

It was lucky for him that the castle structure was located on the very outskirts of town. It seemed that unlike Fairy Tail who had become rather close to the citizens of Magnolia, Phantom Lord remained slightly aloof of its neighbors. With a burst of energy Naruto willed five magical diagrams into existence in front of him, where an equal number of shadow clones stepped out. "Pick a citizen that you see in the town to henge into then do some recon of that castle. I want to know everything about it by the time the rest of the guild makes it here so split up to cover more area."

"Yes boss!" they yelled in unison, mock saluting before each disappeared simultaneously in a swirl of leaves.

Naruto sighed in aggravation as he waved the floating leaves out of his face. _There has got to be a less annoying way of using the shunshin._

Filing it off on his rapidly growing list of things to experiment with the newfound Eternano he sat cross legged on the ground and brought his hands up into the ram seal to focus his magic. His awareness spread through the land as nature guided his thoughts to his destination. The magical signatures inside the building numbered so high and were so close together it was almost hard to distinguish anything but a blob. He sharpened his senses and hyper focused the energy in the direction of the area. The blob became shapes, although hardly any seemed to be of any real note magical reserve wise.

He picked up two spikes that rivaled those of Erza's, one high up in the tallest tower, and the other about ten feet above the main body of members. _Is he flying? _He shrugged and created another clone with the new information before dispelling it, alerting his five sets of eyes of the two sources for a closer look.

It was confusing to him, because from the discussion with Macao and Wakaba Phantom Lord supposedly had nearly triple the members of Fairy Tail, which was a fairly large guild itself numbering upwards to ninety people. _Where is everyone? Something isn't right._

He sighed as he took out the map of Fiore. The arrow that signified the main body of Fairy Tail was slowly moving his way, although he suspected a few key note hot headed members like the rose haired dragon slayer and his team would pull ahead and reach him first. He focused on the city, trying to discover another location or other hidden members, and also scanned the surrounding area.

Hours seemed to pass as minutes in his meditative trance as he surveyed the scene, and before long he felt the approaching vanguard of mages at the edges of his sensory range. With a small burst of energy he forced his clones to dispel, and began sifting through the memories sent to him. He was astounded by the careless nature of the guild. Even though Naruto boasted a high skill in stealth, the closeness that his clones had managed to get to the other members was just ridiculous.

He saw that his original observation was right on target. It seemed as if the only S-Class mages they had in the guild hall at the moment was Gajeel Redfox, who had become well known as being Phantom Lord's ace member, and one of their illustrious Element 4 team members, although he didn't know enough about them to guess the identity. _Strange. I thought that team did all of their missions together… Why was one left behind? And why is he just waiting up in the top of that tower?_

Without the bolstering strength of the rest of their S-Class team, or even their guild master who seemed to be no where in sight, Naruto was very confident in the upcoming attack. With the missing members he knew that the conflict couldn't be solved today, but it would be enough to deal a significant blow to their opponent. He stood up and pinched the bridge of his nose to relieve the small headache that blossomed from the influx of information and walked in an intercepting path towards his incoming guild mates, "Ohayo!" he called with a carefree smile.

He chuckled when the group went instantly on guard at the sound before recognizing him, "Naruto! How'd you get here so fast?" Natsu called out as he ran up to the shinobi.

"Eh, magic?" he replied as if it were the most obvious thing in the world, eliciting sweat drops from the other members of the advanced party. "I've spent the last couple hours doing recon of the place and it almost seems like they have only a token force here. They have about sixty members total inside and I only noticed two of their S-Class mages. We should wait for Master Makarov before attacking in case he has a plan."

It took the combined efforts of Gray ad Elfman to hold the struggling dragon slayer down until the rest of the party arrived an hour later at a more sedated pace then the previous group, "Naruto-san! What were you able to find out?" the Master asked. He looked to be trying every possible stress relieving technique to calm himself. Naruto noticed the small drops of blood dripping down his fingers from where his nails dug deep into his skin.

Naruto relayed his information to the group along with a small replica of the structure that he drew in the dirt. Makarov looked at the drawing intently, before looking up to Naruto with a serious expression, "I have a plan."

The shinobi looked into his eyes and waited, before the Master finally raised an angry finger at the building and screamed, "CHARGE!"

Naruto face vaulted. _So my recon was pointless…_

He should have known better in hindsight. Fairy Tail was known for many things. It was incredibly destructive, hot headed, rowdy, and boisterous. What it was not known for was strategy. As he watched the group of mages charge recklessly towards the building he could only sigh.

Before launching himself into the group with a look of glee on his face.

He looked on as Natsu charged ahead and launched his right foot into the doors with a large amount of force, "Phantom Lord!" he yelled tauntingly, standing in a way where his guild stamp stood out, "We are Fairy Tail!"

Whatever they were expecting from the boys charge was replaced with shock as the rest of the guild poured in. Naruto could only describe it as a colorful chaos. Magical diagrams of all shapes and hues glittered around the main hall. Master Makarov arrived and traveled straight to the second floor, radiating a golden aura that promised only one thing. Pain.

Naruto weaved in and out of combat, putting his incredible dexterity to use as he landed powerful strikes against the enemy, launching people into walls. His senses were screaming as he ducked and weaved under stray spells and employed his substitution technique multiple times to prevent a fellow guild member from being struck. The variety of the magical techniques were astounding. Re-equip magic, to elemental magic, to gun magic… the list just kept on going on and on. Some of the attacks he stored in the recesses of his mind to try out when they made it out.

They were decimating the Phantom Lord members systematically. Through the sheer force of will Fairy Tail was pushing them farther and farther back in the main hall, cornering the group. Naruto looked on in pride as his guild stood before them in an intimidating manner with himself and Erza at the head of the group. He could hear the fighting of Natsu and the man Gajeel in the rafters above. _I wasn't expecting this to be so… easy_, he thought as he scanned the battered group before him.

He should have knocked on wood.

A crash in between the two forces attracted the focus of everyone present. He even heard the pause of fighting between two dragon slayers. As the dust cleared the members of Fairy Tail surrounding him gasped in horror as Makarov lay crumpled on the ground, a sickly green hue.

The effect was instantaneous to the rest of the guild. Their iron will it seemed was derived directly from Makarov, and seeing him in this state had shaken it hard. The morale of the Fairy Tail mages was depleted to next to nothing, and the Phantom Lord mages got what looked like a second wind and started a furious counter attack. Naruto struggled to protect the members.

"Retreat!" yelled Erza, who had seemingly taken up the reigns of leadership while the guild master was indisposed.

The guild didn't need to be told twice as they surged back towards the entrance. During the retreat many members were hit by attacks that Naruto could to nothing to stop. He watched as Natsu, on his way out from the guild hall twitched his ear at the two S-Class mages standing on the top of the stairs before mumbling, "Lucy-chan?" An angry look stretched over his features as he bared his elongated canine teeth. He snatched one of the lesser members of the guild who was by the door and sprinted out of the exit.

Naruto looked over at Erza who was doing her best to usher the demoralized guild out the exit without sustaining anymore injuries then they already had. "Erza! Get them out of here! I'll hold Phantom Lord off!"

He saw her open her mouth to stop him before closing it shut and looking at the retreating members of her family. She looked into his eyes and he heard the unspoken statement. _Come back to us._

He nodded and used a quick burst of magic to appear in front of the revitalized force of Phantom Lord before gathering as much magic as he could into his frame and releasing it in front of him.

* * *

><p>Mirajane stood in front of the destroyed guild hall with her fingers clasped tightly in front of her. The rest of the guild was recuperating in the basement from their failed assault, while Alzack and Bisca took the unresponsive guild master to his old teammate Porlyusica for treatment. It was a relief to the guild that he would eventually make a full recovery.<p>

Even Natsu had returned carrying an exhausted Lucy on his shoulders who had been nearly inconsolable in belief that she was the reason everything had happened to her. Everyone had been shocked to hear that Lucy's father, the patriarch of the wealthy Heartfilia had placed a job request that Phantom Lord accepted for "rescuing" his daughter.

There was only one person still missing. The one person who had stayed behind to give Fairy Tail a chance to escape. _Naru-kun…_

The thought of him not coming back had created a pain in her chest she hadn't felt in years. Not since she had been an active mage with the guild. Not since they buried Lisanna. She didn't understand it, how one man she had only known a few weeks could weasel his way into her life so much. There was just this charisma about him… a bright light in a dark night. Her knight in shining armor.

She shook her head to clear the thoughts. _No, he'll come back, _she thought, _I believe in him. _Naruto Namikaze was strong. He had proven it when he decimated Erigor and Natsu. He had proven it again with his victory over one of the top members of Tartaros. From the stories of the other mages, he had even proven himself in the battle. _Come back Naru-kun._

Mira watched the horizon in silence, occasionally shifting her weight from one foot to the other. She had already been outside for hours, ignoring her fellow guild mates requests for her to come back inside. She honestly couldn't tell how much time had passed. She sat down on a piece of lumber to make herself more comfortable before feeling a presence to her side. She looked over to see her red headed friend and former rival, "Erza…"

Erza smiled at her but didn't say a word. Mirajane knew the woman beside her wasn't good with her emotions. She was supporting her the only way she knew how, by being there for her. The two turned their heads back to the horizon and waited in silence.

The civilians seemed to have been avoiding the guild hall after the attack, as they didn't see a soul. The only noises being the birds flying in the trees above chirping cheerful songs, almost mocking the atmosphere.

They sat still for even more hours, but it went unnoticed by Mira. She sat zoned and in thought until she was finally brought back to reality by Erza standing and placing a gauntleted hand on her shoulder, "Mirajane, its getting la-"

"Naru-kun!" Mira exclaimed, leaping up from the ground. A white coated figure rounded the corner. The bartender took off at a run, startling the Re-equip mage beside her. She plowed into the stone like body of the blond haired shinobi and buried her head in his chest, "Don't you know its impolite to keep a lady waiting?" she said as she forced a grin and wiped a tear away using his white coat.

"S-sorry Mira-chan, I kind of got lost. One of Natsu's stray flames burned my map," he said as he wrapped his arms over her shoulders. An embarrassed blush lit up his cheeks with a rosy red tint.

"Lost?" she said as she playfully slapped his arm. "You had me worried to death thinking something bad might have happened to you, when you were only lost?"

"Uhh, sorry?"

"Naruto-san, its good to see you back. The others in the basement will be thrilled to hear of your return," Erza stated, making her presence known to him. She bent at the waisit in a formal bow, "I wish to apologize for leaving you behind during the retreat! Please, hit me!"

"Eh? Thats not... really necessary..." he said nervously, confused at the S-Class mage's actions, "I was the one who told you to go on ahead, right?"

"Yes," Erza stated while straightening, "that is so. How did you manage to escape them though?"

Naruto chuckled at her, "With my super awesome ninja skills, duh."

Erza sweat dropped, "Once your done in here head inside, its getting late." The armored mage swiftly turned heel and disappeared into the wreckage.

Mirajane laughed, looping her arm through Naruto's and relishing the warmth the blond gave off. "Come on Naru-kun, I'm sure you're starving. Lets go inside and I'll get you something to eat."

Before a reply could even be made, a loud growl from the shinobi's stomach echoed in the empty street. With a flush he allowed her to guide him inside to a meal.

* * *

><p>Naruto didn't know what to expect when he walked down the steps of the guild, but being rushed by every member wasn't it. He was patted on the back, his shoulders and arms clapped, his free hand shook, hell… Cana even slapped his ass. After an entire life of neglect, he didn't truly know how to handle the amount of gratitude being directed at him. Waived most of the people off with, "It was nothing," but there was still a small group that wouldn't buy it, particularly Macao and Wakaba, who he had begun to build a good friendship with a couple nights ago.<p>

"C'mon Naruto, at least tell us what that crazy attack you used was to get them off our tails," the smoke magic user prodded.

"I really don't know, I just kind of gathered as much magic as I could at one time and uh… launched it at them," he replied lamely.

"Oho! A new attack then? We should name it!" Macao said with a grin, as he and Wakaba began listing off different names, ranging from silly to serious to out right ridiculous.

It caused him to chuckle. It seemed as if the news that their Master would make a full recovery and that everyone had managed to make it out of the battle had brightened everyone's spirits, although the threat of Phantom Lord still hung over their shoulders. Mira came and sat a bowl of beef stew in front of him along with a mug of what was quickly becoming his favorite ale before saying, "How about Fairy Glitter? You know like after the guild? I think it would be cute!"

"Uh, Mira-chan… that's a bit girly." Naruto replied

"Eternano Make: Ether Explosion," Macao bounced back with.

"Huh, that one actually sounds pretty badass. I like it," said the ninja. Before any other comments could be made though, they felt the ground quake roughly, spilling drinks and knocking over tables. Naruto practically inhaled the bowl of stew in front of him to keep it from making it on the floor.

"What was that?" A sandy haired mage named Max yelled.

The mages evacuated the basement and onto the guild grounds. Gray pointed out over the lake and got everyone's attention, "What the hell is that?" he yelled.

"Where the hell are your clothes?" the guild yelled back, before looking in the direction his hand was pointing.

A large castle was moving their way, twice the size of the one that they had fought Phantom Lord at. Unlike the structure in Oak Town this one had a large golden dome in the center structure with towers surrounding its perimeter topped with pointed golden cone roofs. It looked like a palace. _So this must be Phantom Lord's main headquarters… _The unusual thing about the building however wasn't the fact that it had beautifully made golden roofs.

It was the legs.

All six of them.

_What the hell is with this? Two castles? How unfair... _he mentally whined.

And it was moving to them, large spider-like appendages moving it forward before finally coming to a halt in the middle of the water. The middle of the building opened up and a large cannon protruded from it. "Fairy Tail! Hand over Lucy Heartfilia or we will fire!" a loud voice echoed across the ocean, enhanced by a lacrima.

Just as Lucy was about to step forward, Natsu stopped her with an outstretched hand, "Lucy is a Fairy Tail mage, and that makes her family. Every one of us will die for her!" he yelled.

The roar of approval shocked Naruto to his core. Not including himself, Lucy was the newest member of the guild. That every member would stand up to protect one of their comrades in such a way even after barely knowing them was incredible. He found himself nodding subconsciously with the group as well.

"Very well. We'll do it the fun way. Fire the Jupiter Cannon!"

Purple energy began to swirl around the barrel of the weapon before condensing into a smaller ball. Erza re-equipped into a bulky silver armor and ordered everyone in the guild to stay back, against the pleas of her allies.

"Erza! Not even your Adamantine Armor can stand up to an attack such as that!" Alzack called out.

There wasn't time for anyone else to say anything. The condensed orb shot out in a beam of purple fury and struck the red head in the shoulder. He watched as she dug her heels into the ground and hunched over, trying to push back against it. Seconds passed like hours as he watched helplessly as she struggled in a stale mate against the powerful weapon until the first chink appeared on her pauldren. Her back leg began to slide back, digging into the dirt but failing to maintain any sort of traction as it began to overpower her.

Then finally her armor snapped and sent her flying back in a grunt of pain. Naruto burst into movement and caught her before she landed and brought her gently to the ground, "Heh, that wasn't so bad," the red head grunted out as the rest of the cannon's attack dissipated into the attack."

"Impressive as ever Titania," the voice called back out over the water. "It was futile however. In fifteen minutes the cannon will attack again, and you have no one else who can stop it. Enjoy the time before your doom Fairies. I think you'll find your new guests to be very entertaining."

Dark purple shades soared out from the building and towards the mages, "Naruto-san," Erza grunted as she tried to push herself up to no avail, "help Natsu, Gray and Elfman destroy that weapon or we will have no hopes. It took all of my magical energy just to stop one attack. The next time we wont be so lucky."

Naruto looked over to see the aforementioned guild members making their way across the water through various ways, Happy flying Natsu over, while Gray created a bridge of ice for himself and the large white haired mage.

"You can count on me Erza. Phantom Lord won't know what hit them," he promised as he took off in a Eternano propelled leap.

* * *

><p>Author's Notes - Whew, sorry to end with a bit of a cliff hanger, but if I didn't cut that one off soon then it would have kept going to the end of the arc. I hope this one is a little bit more up to par then my previously written chapters were. Thanks for all the reviews y'all, each and every one of them brightens my day.<p>

A special thanks goes out to **Lanky Nathan **and **Hmm for their constructive criticism of the previous chapter. **

**Again, I appreciate all constructive advice no matter how blunt it is. Please review and let me know what you think. **

**Revised 6/3/2012 - Managed to fix a few grammar issues and added actual breaks instead of my lazy OOOOO's. Hope you enjoy it!**


	6. Protecting Family

Wisps of blue energy trailed behind Naruto in streaks almost resembling arcane wings. His eyes crackled with Eternano as he contained the bubbling rage within him. It was different then the Kyuubi induced fury of his childhood. Images of those who had died to protect him flashed before his vision. Friends who had become family, much like those fighting below him. _Kirabi… Erza…_

The Eternano within him swirled and propelled him to the fortress. He sensed Natsu and the others making their way to the Jupiter Cannon and placed his faith in them that they would be able to stop the monstrosity. He had a bigger target in mind. Defeating the cannon wouldn't stop the attack. It wouldn't stop the shades that had begun assaulting those he now considered his precious people. There was only one man who's defeat would end everything.

_Jose Porla!_

His far reaching senses could feel the signatures of every one of his allies, his brothers and sisters in arms. In the short time that they had known him and given him a place where he had called home he had memorized the unique differences in each one's magical core that signified who they were. He could feel their energy depleting rapidly as they fought the seemingly never ending enemy. _Unforgivable!_

He didn't bother looking for a door or a window, he created his own entrance to the fortress, sending large pieces of stone crashing as he slammed forcibly into the giant structure. Screams of surprise echoed in the room. Naruto could feel every one of them. Pin point the exact location of each member even with the cloud of dust and debris obstructing his sight. Their energy levels were low. Insignificant. His Eternano infused hand batted a weak blast away without a spare thought,

"_**Where is he?**_" he said in an almost whisper. His voice, while soft, carried through the entire room. He could almost taste their fear. The dust cleared to show thirty of Phantom Lord's lower class members, most of which seemed to still be recovering from injuries sustained in their previous engagement.

Silence impregnated the room.

It wasn't a silence fueled by loyalty. It was one of terror. He recognized each one of them. And they recognized him. They knew the lengths he was capable of going to when his precious people were threatened. They had felt it.

Simultaneously each one lifted their arms and pointed towards the right hand corridor in an almost choreographed sync.

Naruto turned on his heel and headed into the hall, the ethereal blue magic swirling around him and cracking the floors with each step he took. He absent-mindedly noted that with all of the grandeur of the Palace-like architecture the interior was rather shabby. Rooms were filled with rough mechanical contraptions instead of the pristine decorations he would have imagined looking at the building from the outside.

It was curious. _Why would they waist all that money on the outside of the guild hall, but leave the inside so sparse and unwelcoming?_

A rumble distracted him from his thoughts. He felt the large power source below him vanish and zeroed his senses in on the area. _Heh, I knew I could count on you guys._

The built up energy Jupiter had been gathering dispersed in the air as the giant lacrima collapsed. A loud cheer rung out from the other side of the water that echoed within the halls of the structure.

Their joy was quickly dashed though, as a laugh erupted from a loud speaker within the guild, "Hahaha! Do you honestly think that stopping the Jupiter will save your pathetic guild? I will show you once and for all why Phantom Lord has been considered the top guild in Fiore for years!"

The structure shifted and Naruto watched in fascination as the mechanisms around him began to power on. His whole world was tilted as the fortress lurched to the side and began undergoing some sort of metamorphosis. His energy latched on to the floor below him as he was once again twisted, this time upside down. _What about their members that were inside? Is there rooms that are unaffected, or does he just not care about his people?_

"Feast your eyes on Phantom Lord's ultimate weapon! **Super Mage Giant Phantom MKII!**" the voice cackled, causing Naruto to sweat drop.

_Mah… what a lame name._

His attention was snatched by four powerful sources of magic erupting from different points within the building. One beside his three other guild mates below was brought down rapidly.

"Stand in terror! **Abyss Break!**"

The three familiar signatures below him split up in different directions. _They must have come to the same guess as me… Wait… are the energy sources moving? They aren't lacrima, they are people! _He started back on the twisting and turning hall ways, using his senses as his guide… and failing miserably.

_What kind of idiot designs hall ways like this? They don't make sense! Screw this!_

He let his magic out in bursts, blowing through walls and forging his own hall through the building. He felt two other fights start up and sighed, _How come its so easy for them to find people… _

His thoughts were interrupted by a familiar blood curdling scream that pierced his ears and made his heart wrench painfully.

_Mira-chan!_

"My how the mighty S-Class mage has fallen! Your pathetic attempt to trick us is laughable, Mirajane Strauss," Jose called out, "but ultimately useless. We have recaptured Lucy Heartfilia, now all that is left for us to do is the destruction of Fairy Tail! Suffer in your failure!"

Naruto could hear her pain… feel it echo deep within his chest. He immediately changed directions, blasting through thick stone walls as if they were paper. _The transformation must have some how shifted me more towards the center of the building, _he thought frantically.

The shinobi became a single-minded dervish of destruction as he carved through stone and metal alike at reckless speeds.

He launched his fist at the final obstruction in his way before feeling a wave of fresh air hit his sweat soaked face.

OOOO

Not even the damage she took when the Beast had taken over Elfman years ago on that fateful night could compare to the pain from the crushing pressure of this behemoth. It was almost too much for the bartender.

_Elfman-nii… Naru-kun… _

She saw the pain her guild was in, barely standing on their last legs as they desperately fought to keep Jose's Shades at bay. She had hoped by using her prodigal abilities at transformation magic she would be able to fool the guild into taking her and leaving her friends alone… Lucy's poorly timed capture however only made things worse.

She didn't exactly know what she had thought would happen in her panic driven state of self sacrifice, but the crushing experience definitely didn't make the list.

Through a large hole in the structure Mira could see her brother desperately fighting one of Phantom Lord's famous members of Elemental Four, a team of renown S-Class mages, as he tried to force his way to her. He looked at her eyes with a serious expression.

"Mira-nee, I have to use It. It's the only way." He stated ominously.

She knew exactly what It was. It was what destroyed their family. "Elfman-nii you can't control it! It will only take over again!" she cried, praying he would listen to her reasoning.

"I'm stronger now Mira-nee, believe in me. As a man, its my duty to protect you," the large man said with a determined voice as he closed his eyes. She could feel the magic in him skyrocket before being encased in a white glowing magical shell. It grew three times the size of him, and nearly four times wider.

"I do believe in you, nii-san," she whispered as she fought the urge to scream once more.

"**Beast Soul - Full Body Take Over!"**

The magic light dissipated showing the figure that had haunted Mirajane in her nightmares for years. The Beast was gargantuan and covered in a dark red fur reminiscent to blood. On its bald chest and from its neck to its face was an almost silky green color of skin. Two large upright horns adorned his shoulders while a pair of demonic ones curved from his brow off the sides of his head into points. Long shaggy white hair and a shaggy white beard covered most of its head. The only thing it had in common with the manly mage was the ragged blue pants stretched over its legs and the scar on his right eye.

It looked at her and the hairs on her neck stood on end. Until it smiled. Or at least tried to smile… it was more like a gnashing of large spiky teeth.

Mirajane let out a breath of air she didn't know she had held. "Even you, Elfman-nii, have moved on haven't you?" she whispered. _Lisanna… what would you say if you could see us now? _Her heart knew the answer even though she didn't want to accept it…

The battle, if you could call it that, was over moments later. Sol, the earth attuned member of Elemental 4 couldn't stop the rampaging brutal force of Elfman's take over magic, and was soon knocked unconscious by the beastial man.

She beamed in pride at him as he took a powerful leap onto the arm of the mechanized mage as she fought the urge to tremble at the memory of his form. His strong fur covered arms grasped the metal and attempted to pry the large fingers from off of her.

Just as she felt the hold loosening on her, a huge mound of stone rubble slammed on top of Elfman, knocking the man unconscious.

"Uhh, oops. Didn't see you down there Elfman. My bad," came a sheepish voice a floor above them. Mira sweat dropped when she looked up to see Naruto standing in a gaping hole of the giant robot. His eyes, normally holding a small gleam to them that was almost unnoticeable unless you looked deep into them were now completely masked by an intense glow of blue magic. His body was surrounded in a matching blue aura that wisped subconsciously around him almost like a flame. Tendrils of Eternano flowed behind him in a resemblance to wings. The magical power she felt roaring off of him was immense.

"Naru-kun!" she called to him.

"What a… manly… entrance…" Elfman groaned, shaking he stars out of his eyes as he shifted a block of stone from his chest. With the Beast Soul Take Over draining out, his energy was massively depleted. "Help me free Mira-nee, Naruto! It is our job as men!"

Naruto glided softly down and landed between the two of them, "When I lift this, I need you to grab her as fast as you can and pull her out."

Elfman nodded passionately. "Very well Naruto. Let us show the world what two men can do!"

She watched in amazement as Naruto's hands blurred into motion, stabbing into the metallic hand as if it were water. He used the holes as a place to grip and tugged with a mighty groan. After seconds of pulling, they heard the tell-tale noise of breaking gears as the hand was pried forcibly opened. She didn't have time to think more on it when Elfman grasped her and pulled her quickly out of the crushing prison.

"Nee-chan!" he said as he grasped her in a suffocating hug. She flailed her small arms and struggled to breathe.

"Elfman, take Mira-chan somewhere safe please and protect her," Naruto said.

"I've got her, Naruto. The man I was battling, Sol, mentioned that the Abyss Break spell is being powered by his team, the Elemental 4, and that the only way to stop it from firing is by defeating every one of them. If that spell powers up then it will not only take out our guild, but also a large chunk of Magnolia!" the burly man exclaimed.

"Leave it to me. I'll protect Fairy Tail, even if it costs me my life. It's a promise of a lifetime," the ninja said. He gave the two a thumbs up and a grin, the sun reflecting off his white teeth with such a glint that it could almost be heard. He turned around and crouched, as if to jump back up to the large hole he had forcibly made.

"N-Naru-kun!," Mira called out. She ran up to him and wrapped her arms around him and placed a light peck on his cheek. She pulled away before he even had a chance to react and chuckled at the rosy blush on his face, "for luck!"

His hand reached up to his cheek where he felt her lips gently press against it and stood frozen, "Mira-nee! I think you broke him!" Elfman exclaimed.

Mirajane chuckled, _Come back to us Naruto… Come back to me…_

OOOO

Naruto shook his head, turning around and looking up to the hole he had created. He waved his hand behind him in farewell and leapt, easily clearing the space. When he got into the tunnel and cast one last backwards glance at the siblings, he caught Mirajane's eye and gave her a soft smile before walking back into the transformed guild hall, _Push it out of your thoughts for now. Focus on Phantom Lord._

He brought his hands together and created three clones, "Find a safe place and meditate. Gather me energy."

"Yes boss!" They sat Indian style on the ground right where they were summoned. Naruto slapped his palm on his forehead.

He took off without another word. He forced his senses back out and scanned the structure. _Natsu… I'm coming._

He could feel the drain on the Dragon Slayer's magic and remembered the same feeling from the last fight, _It must be the same mage that took out Makarov… hang on!_

He increased his speed and plowed through the walls and obstructions in his way. By taking the direct route, quite literally, he made it quickly to the corridor and saw a large man standing over the stunned Dragon Slayer in the middle of casting a spell

A desperate round house saved the rose haired mage from a fate similar to the Guild Master.

"Naruto?" Natsu questioned.

"Go save Lucy-san. I'll take care of him." His voice left no room for debates. He fixed his flowing eyes on the form of the large man at the end of the halls.

"No way! I got here first fair and square, this guy is mine!" Natsu argued and charged the Element 4 member head on.

Naruto grasped him by the shoulder, "This guy is small fry compared to Gajeel. He's the one I sense keeping Lucy captive. I heard him shit talking fire dragons after y'all left their other base too. You gonna' let him get away with that?" he taunted.

Natsu breathed fire out of his mouth in fury. "There is no way that wannabe Dragon Slayer is going to get away with bad talking Igneel! Where is he?"

Naruto merely pointed in the direction of the opposite end of the hall. Natsu took off cursing.

"Natsu's all fired up!" Happy exclaimed.

"Sorrowful!" his opponent exclaimed as he materialized in front of the retreating fire mage, "but I cannot let either of you leave here. It makes me sad that I must end two mages such as yourselves!"

Naruto walked up to Natsu and placed gripped the collar of his vest, "Happy, catch Natsu."

The small blue cat looked at him in confusion, "But Natsu isn't falli-"

Naruto flung Natsu out the window.

"Aye sir!" Happy yelled as wings sprouted out of his back and he dove through the hole.

"I'm your opponent now," Naruto said as he leveled a glowing glare at the mage. He was huge, larger then even Elfman who towered over the shinobi. He wore a large green overcoat trimmed with white, and a light orange ruffled shirt beneath it. A green wide brimmed hat sat on his head, and his eyes were covered by white cloth.

"The heroic knight who saved his guild by staying behind and allowing them to retreat. It is a shame that I will have to end you today. Shame shame… You must be the new member mentioned in the Weekly Sorcerer. It is so sad that I must end such a new career! Sorrowful!"

"Wow you're weird," Naruto sweat dropped. A massive familiar spike in power made him grin though, as he felt another one fall. _Good job Gray. _"It looks like you're all that's keeping the Abyss Break up now."

"So sad… sad sad sad that they have been defeated… but I am the strongest of them all, and I will avenge my fallen team! How sorrowful!"

"**Zetsu!" **

A glowing purple diagram stretched into existence at the palm of Aria's open hand emitting a huge wave of air.

It made contact with a log, showering the corridor with splinters. The man looked on in confusion before watching a foot phase through his stomach.

"Uhh, hi?" Naruto said nervously, leg still outstretched.

The large mage vanished before teleporting on the other side of the room, "To dodge my Zetsu, you must be strong. This fight might be fun," he said as he reached up to the blindfold. "I wear this blindfold to limit my power, now you can fight me at my full strength!"

Naruto was caught slightly off guard at the full circle personality change of his enemy. _They might want to think of bi-annual psychiatric evaluations for some of these mages…_ He watched curiously while the tall man removed the blind fold and looked at him with pink irises each separated into four even slices almost like a pie. _Shit, dojutsu? I have to end this quickly._

Aria extended his arms as his eyes started glowing brightly, "This spell is the most powerful one in my repertoire. Its called the Airspace of death, and consumes all life!"

"**Zer-"**

"**Eternano Make: Rasengan!"**

Aria's eyes widened in shock as Naruto appeared behind him in a burst of speed, ramming the swirling orb into the small of his back and launching him roughly into the wall.

"You're so used to fighting without your eyes," Naruto chuckled, "but when they are open they become your crutch… There's no way weak scum like you defeated someone as powerful as our Master with out resorting to trickery."

"Ungh…" was his only reply as the man faded into unconsciousness.

Naruto sighed in relief as he felt the final remaining supply of power going to Abyss Break. _They're safe… Now there's just one more target to go. Jose… I'm coming for you._

He dispelled one of his clones and felt his energy replenish before heading into the next room where the infamous Guild Master of Phantom Lord was. He could feel the sickly corrosive energy oozing in the room.

A heavy foot contacted the door with all the force he could manage, causing it to rip off its hinges and fly down a throne-like room, crumbling against the wall next to a man reclining in a large finely made chair.

The man wore a militaristic blue uniform trimmed with gold with his Wizard Saints medallion holding the collar together. A brown cape was draped over his right shoulder decorated with a long golden stripe. He had long black hair tied up in a pony tail with a long thin mustache that curved down almost to his jaw line.

"Naruto-san! Its good of you to join me," he said amicably, "I've been hearing a lot about you, you know?"

"I'm flattered," Naruto deadpanned. "You're going to pay for hurting my guild, Jose."

He stood up, instantly putting Naruto on guard, and chuckled, "And you have the strength to face one of the Ten Wizard Saints? Laughable. I will admit though, you have an impressive magical aura about you. it's a pity Makarov found you first, you would have made an excellent Phantom Lord," he said appraisingly.

Naruto clenched his fists at the tall slender man who held up a hand. "What's your rush Naruto-san? Enjoy the last conversation you'll ever have. Gajeel is currently fighting your guild's Dragon Slayer, and judging by the feel of their fluctuating magic, I would say he's winning quite handily. There will be no rescue for Lucy-sama this time. We'll hold her for ransom from her father, making him pay more then he ever would have!"

The man's presence became more and more dark as he was speaking, until cackling madly at the very end. "You realize that no matter what happens here today, the Council is going to strip your official guild status right? Is it all worth it?"

Jose became silent and looked at Naruto, "For years Phantom has been the top guild of Fiore. We were respected by everyone. Then Fairy Tail came along… Destructive, chaotic, hotheaded… Your guild causes more damage on minor missions then every other guild combined. What do you get in return? A slap on the wrist? No, the Council is broken and flawed. If they force us to disband then we take the next step and become a Dark Guild, then we could take any mission we ever wanted. My guild would reap the riches and truly earn the recognition that it deserves!"

"You're obviously on a whole 'nother level of crazy. You're willing to risk your guild becoming an enemy of the nation just for some petty jealousy? Ridiculous. I've heard enough. Defend yourself, Jose!" Naruto shouted as he sprinted into action.

In a burst of speed he blurred behind Jose and swung a heavy haymaker towards the mage's vulnerable neck.

His eyes widened when the man side stepped the attack casually, off balancing the ninja and immediately capitalizing on his disadvantage. Purple shades gathered towards the mans outstretched hand as he uttered his attack.

"**Shade Entanglement!"**

Three black skulls shot out at him, trailed in a purple miasma. They surrounded him before the shinobi had a chance to correct his footing and coiled around him. When they constricted, Naruto's world turned to pain. He bit his lip and grunted, forcing himself to not scream. It was hard to focus, hard to breathe. He took a gamble.

"**Eternano Make: Ether Explosion!" **he grunted out, and forced the blue magic out in a wave of cleansing purity. He grinned amidst gasping breaths as he watched Jose pick himself up from the ground ten feet away, caught flat footed in the unsuspected attack.

The man stood up with a crazed look on his face and wiped a small streak of red from his mouth. "Impressive Naruto-san," he cackled, "it has been years since anyone has drawn even a scratch of blood from me. I wont underestimate you again."

"**Dark Beam!" **

Dozens of beams of dark magic pierced the air at Naruto who in an astonishing performance of acrobatics began weaving in and out of them before finally being struck by one from behind, penetrating his left shoulder.

"Ungh…" Naruto grunted, grasping at the puncture wound.

"A few more years and you could have truly given me a run for my money. It's a pity we met so early, I would have enjoyed the fight. Unfortunately for you, this is the end," he bragged arrogantly before extending his hands in front of him.

"**Dead Wave!"**

Naruto felt one of his clones pop and gasped in relief as his system was flooded with more concentrated Eternano. He felt the sickly purple chakra speeding his way and acted in the only way he knew how.

Unpredictably.

When the purple miasma cleared, he had one knee on the ground with both arms stretched out to his sides, a swirling blue dome of energy surrounding his entire body.

He looked up at Jose and grinned ferally, **"Eternano Make: Kaiten."**

And in a gust of leaves, he was gone.

Jose's eyes widened as he reflexively dodged a strike to his left temple.

Naruto followed through, his mind left behind as he placed all of his faith in instinct and reflex. The two danced in a flurry of attacks. Both pushing themselves to their physical limits to keep up with the other. The shinobi reveling in the shock still publicized in the Wizard Saint's eye.

Their fists and feet became infused with their respective magics, one encased in an peaceful blue, and the other in a toxic violet. The hits that landed were ignored, adrenalin flowing so high in the two that they felt nothing but the desire to fight. A battle high.

A well placed uppercut sent Naruto through the roof of the building and on top of the mage-like robot with Jose hot on his heels. The shinobi retaliated with a brutal wave of pure energy that sent the dark haired man painfully into the side of the structure's head.

They both paused, eyes assessing weaknesses and strengths. Naruto knew his only hope was to stay close. Jose had a hell of a lot of magical energy, but there was no way he had more stamina. _His long range attacks are much more effective then mine too… I'm at a disadvantage back here._

He tightened his fists and charged again, this time creating a pair of clones with him.

"**Dark Slam!"**

A dozen more black skulls shot from his hands with purple tendrils. Naruto managed to substitute with a piece of rubble from the roof, but his clones weren't so lucky. The tendrils managed to wrap around a limb of each of the clones and swing them high in the air, before rapidly slamming them down on the roof with great force. He winced when the memories came back of the landing. _Note to self. Avoid the skulls._

He created more clones from his hidden position and tried to find a weakness he could exploit.

They attacked in tandem and solo, from high and low, left to right, right to left, but nothing seemed to escape the mans notice. _Wizard Saint indeed._

The memories of each clone's defeat sailed back to him as he learned more and more about his opponent. The unfortunate thing was most of the learning was about which one of the attacks hurt the most. The man weaved through the clones well coordinated assaults like a man possessed.

"Come out come out where ever you are Naruto-san! Don't make me lose the respect I had gained by hiding like a coward while your little lackies do all of the hard work!" Jose cackled in a sing song voice, the madness in his mind evident in his crazed expression.

"Pot calling the kettle black much?" Naruto said exasperatedly as he thumbed in the direction of the shades that were still assaulting the exhausted members of Fairy Tail.

Jose's comment wasn't one he liked to hear.

"**Dark Sphere!"**

An orb roughly a foot in diameter shot out from his outstretched palm almost faster then Naruto could blink, striking him in the chest and knocking the wind out of him.

"**Dark Beam!"**

It took all of Naruto's willpower to substitute himself with another piece of rubble where he knelt and quickly caught his breath.

"My my that ability sure is annoying. You're good to have lasted this long, but all you're doing is prolonging the inevitable. With your destruction Phantom Lord's supremacy will be known to all of Fiore!" the man exclaimed, an insane grin stretching across his face.

Naruto sighed, "You're pathetic, you know that?" When he was sure he had Jose's attention he continued, "you attack our guild in the dead of night when no one is around, sneak attack one of our teams, defeat Makarov through trickery, and then begin this assault when our three top mages aren't even at the guild to defend it. Face it, with only one S-Class mage here, we've still managed to defeat every member of your guild in one on one fights. I'm sure you feel just as I do that your trump card Gajeel is being defeated by Natsu as we speak."

Jose chuckled softly, before erupting in a loud fit of maniacal laughter. "Boy, who do you think you are to lecture me? When Makarov wakes up and sees his guild in shambles and his children destroyed can you imagine the pure despair that he will feel? The agony of loss! The pain of loneliness! It will eat him from the inside out! He'll know what it means to be inferior!"

"So what your saying is this is all done to get back at Makarov? What, for kicking your ass at the Guild Master's Meeting six years ago?" Naruto asked, rage creeping back into his voice.

"I WILL HAVE MY VENGEANCE!" The crazed mage bellowed, "Makarov will pay for that embarrassment. He will live the rest of his short life in misery, knowing that he could not protect his children from destruction!"

"You're sick." Naruto scoffed.

"And you're open!" Jose hissed.

Naruto didn't even have time to widen his eyes as another sphere of dark energy slammed into his gut. He crumpled on his knees with his left arm clutched across his stomach in pain.

Jose walked arrogantly up to the shinobi, another orb of darkness taking shape in his hand. He grabbed Naruto's head by the scalp and screamed, "Look at your demise!" before slamming the orb into his face.

He was rewarded with an anticlimactic puff of smoke

"**Eternano Make: Rasengan!"**

Naruto appeared behind the mage who had just managed to turn before the orb of energy slammed into him. The movement altered Naruto's intended target from the middle of his back to his right shoulder. It still had the intended effect though.

"Yaarrgh!" the Phantom Lord Master screamed as he once more slammed against the head of his mechano-mage. His right shoulder hung lower then the left, obviously dislocated as he glared at Naruto with a look of complete loathing.

Naruto wasn't faring much better. The last attack he had taken obviously broke a few ribs making it a struggle to breathe, let alone stand up. He looked down at the guild and saw the shades still attacking his comrades, _Good god, why won't this man go down?_

He stood up, ignoring the pain in his chest with a grimace, "I will defeat you, Jose Porla, even if it costs me my life!" Resolve gleamed in his eyes,

The man chuckled, pulling himself out of the crater of metal gingerly, avoiding any increased jostling that would aggravate the painful wound on his shoulder, "Fool, you can hardly stand. What makes you think you-"

"**Eternano Make: Beam!"**

A vicious blue line of energy struck Jose in the chest, forcing his back to the metal structure once more. "Good god you talk too much. Shut up and fight," the shinobi huffed before utilizing his shunshin to speed towards the fallen mage.

"**Dark Vortex!"** Jose shouted from within the cratered metal as he shot out a large violet blast of energy.

"Gah!" the shinobi screamed. The attack was well placed, aimed for where Naruto had intended his shunshin's destination to be. It made Naruto feel almost as if he was being boiled alive and frozen to death at the same time, as each and every one of his pain receptors went haywire. After what felt like an eternity, he finally managed a conscious thought. _Damn… he must be able to sense my magic mark for the shunshin. Its almost like I'm fighting a shinobi…_

They both groggily stood up, each in pain but neither willing to back down. Naruto willed his last clone to dispel. _My energy seems to be slightly cushioning his attacks, I guess that's why its burning so quickly._

He knew that even with the replenishment of his magical energy, that his physical limits would be reached shortly. Looking at the mage across from him, he assumed the same for his opponent. _One attack left._

His enemy knew it as well. He allowed his eyes to scan the shores where the guild stood, his energy pinpointing the most familiar signature. _Mira-chan… I will keep my promise!_

"**Death Wave!" **

"**Eternano Make: Chou Oodama Rasengan!"**

OOOOO

Mirajane clutched her entwined hands together tightly as she stood to the side of the river with Lucy beside her. Elfman-nii ran off to help keep the shades at bay and give Naruto a bit more time and Gray went off to find Natsu amidst the wreckage.

"He's cleaning up my mess it looks like," came a rough voice beside her.

"Master!" Mira exclaimed, turning to see the diminutive Guild Master dressed in his Wizard Saint attire, "I didn't know you were up and moving around."

"My magic came back sooner then Porlyusica had anticipated, unfortunately I was too late," he stated as he glared up at the towering monstrosity and viewed the two large attacks converge with each other. It looked to be a stale mate at first, until the orb-like attack began absorbing the purple energy, making a brilliant display of a vibrant blue and violet swirling. It was almost like a second sun.

Until it went into supernova.

_Naru-kun!_

The center of it rapidly expanded in a ring of devastation, all but obliterating the Phantom Lord headquarters. The ring passed over the town in a rush of beautiful lights, high enough to prevent any buildings from being destroyed, but low enough to feel the powerful breeze it generated in its passing.

"It looks like Jose's shades are gone… Come Mirajane, lets go fishing," Makarov said as he hopped into a small boat attached to the pier

"But Master, shouldn't we be looking for Naru-kun and Natsu instead of Happy's meal? That's mean."

The diminutive man could only slap his forehead in exasperation. "We are fishing for Naruto and Natsu!"

"Why didn't you just say so Master?" Mirajane asked.

"…"

It didn't take them long to find the first pair of people. Natsu, Gray and Happy floated on a large block of ice in the water. Gray was kicked back with his shirt off relaxing as the warm rays of sun, while Happy consoled a sea-sick Natsu by patting his head lightly with his paw.

"Quit lounging around and get back to the guild already you slackers! There's work to do!" Makarov exclaimed, scaring the trio and causing the cube of ice to flip, and Happy to encage his wings just before touching the water.

"Master! You're alright!" Gray exclaimed, using his ice under him to create another make-shift raft. He grabbed Natsu, who was still affected by the motion sickness by back of his torn shirt and dragged him back up to the cube. Happy flopped down on the cube as his tiny body ran out of its last bit of magic.

"Aye…."

"Sorry I was late and you all got caught up in this mess. I'm proud of each of you for the roles you played in this battle." the Master said, as he smiled at them. "As much as it brightens my heart with joy to know you three are okay, we still have one member unaccounted for. Head back to the guild hall and see what you can do to help the others. Mira-chan and I will try and find him.

They rowed deeper into the wreckage, using the paddles to push smaller pieces away and guide around the larger ones.

They came across the unconscious and mangled form of Jose Porla first. His limbs were twisted painfully and cuts and bruises covered his entire body. It was a testament to his durability that he was even survived after a direct hit from an attack like that.

Makarov looked down at the man in pity, "You had such potential Jose… to be chosen to be a member of the Ten Wizard Saints at such a young age was a great honor. If you had walked a lawful path, you would have been an outstanding example to the next generation of mages. Instead you had to throw it all away for petty jealousy… Was it worth it?"

Makarov shook his head, not expecting an answer from the unresponsive criminal before using his Titan Magic to grow his arm and hand long enough to lift up the man gently and place him in the boat, as to not aggravate his wounds.

"Master, what are you…" Mira started.

"Jose has learned his lesson, Mira-chan, quite painfully. He lost himself amidst his anger and jealousy, and lost sight of the guild that he had grown to love so much. If we leave him out here he'll drown when we could have done something to save him, making us no better then a murdering Dark Guild. The reason why I am so proud to call myself the Master of Fairy Tail isn't because of the strength or numbers of our mages, but by the integrity of them. They do what is right, always, no matter the consequences."

Mirajane smiled at the elder before pointing behind him, "Naru-kun!"

He floated peacefully in the water, his arms and legs spread wide with a happy but tired grin on his face, "I kept my promise Mira-chan," he whispered to her.

"Thank you," she said as a small tear of happiness slid down her face.

She reached out and clutched his outstretched hand, and with the help of Makarov they pulled him onto the other side of the small boat where she cradled his head into her lap. "Go to sleep Naru-kun, we'll wake you when we get back to shore. You earned it."

"Thanks," he mumbled tiredly before succumbing to his exhaustion.

Her face turned crimson as his head snuggled deeper into her lap. She gazed on his battered form with a smile on her face before Makarov interrupted her thoughts.

"I knew he was strong when he first came to the guild, but I could hardly imagine this… To defeat a Guild Master and member of the Ten Wizard Saints no less. I wonder what the Council is going to do…" he trailed off.

"What do you mean Master?"

"Naruto is brand new to Fiore, and brand new to this world itself. With such a magic like that, it would be best for him to have stayed under the radar," Makarov said forebodingly.

"What's wrong with his magic?" she asked curiously.

"That's a discussion for myself and him Mira-chan, I apologize."

"Yes Master."

OOOOO

"Ungh…" Naruto groaned out as he brought an arm up in an attempt to block out the rays of sun filtering into his eyes, only to notice the entire appendage wrapped in bandages. The sound of a shifting chair caught his attention as he craned his neck in its direction.

"Its okay Naru-kun, you're in the guest bedroom at my house. Here's a glass of water," came the soothing voice of Mirajane.

He took it gratefully and tipped the glass up. The water felt incredible as it refreshingly slid down his parched throat, "Thanks, how long have I been down?"

"Its been four days. Your injuries are still healing from the fight with Jose so try and take it easy," she said.

Naruto quietly contemplated the information, _Four days? Even after the first battle with Sasuke when I had a hand through my chest I was up and moving in two… Its times like this when I actually miss the furrball._

"Are you alright? You kind of spaced out for a second," Mira asked with a concerned tone.

"Yeah, I was just thinking. How everyone?" he asked, curious to the well being of his new family as he took another sip of water.

"Everyone is fine, if a little bruised up. They are all working on reconstruction of the new guild hall. Its really fun seeing everyone using their own magic to chip in. If you're up for it I'll take you there so you can see it. Everyone has been dying to see you, but Master kept telling them you needed your rest," she said as she held out a hand for him to brace with.

He grinned at her and took it, blushing at the contact with the beautiful woman and pulled himself up to a sitting position. Bandages circled his lower abdomen from just below his guild insignia to his hips, and around each of his limbs. He could feel the stiffness in his muscles and joints from staying supine for so long. "Umm Mira-chan, where's my clothes?"

He chuckled as her face flushed. She walked over to the dresser and pulled out a pair of pants like the ones he had on previously, "The clothes you had during your fight were mostly ruined and these were the only pair of pants that survived the demolition of the guild," she said as she flung the trousers at him and turned around, wanting to give him privacy but be close enough if he fell.

Naruto groaned.

He could see the look in her eyes as she talked about his wardrobe, and knew exactly what it meant… _Shopping…_ He couldn't understand what she found so exciting about it. Just the thought of it made him want to run and hide.

Sliding his legs off the bed, he slipped his feet through the holes and pulled up the pair of pants. _Still a bit stiff_, _need to break them in._ He thought as he buttoned them and zipped up the zipper,

"Okay Mira-chan, I'm decent now. Ready?" He said as he started walking over to her and stumbled on shaky legs.

"The real question is if you're ready silly," she grinned as she walked up next to him and draped his left arm over her shoulder and draped her right arm across his back to help him keep his balance and bare some of his weight

They slowly walked down stairs before she left him propped up against the wall and went into the closet. "This is a gift from Master Makarov, its in honor of defeating Master Jose," she said as she held up a new jacket to him. The white color and high collar were similar to his old jacket, but that's where they ended. Blue runes were sewn in place of the flame pattern he previously had, and whereas his was blank on the back, this one had an encircled kanji emblazoned on the back in dark blue.

"Archangel?" he questioned as took it gently from her.

"It was actually what one of the Phantom Lord members called you apparently when you busted into a room full of a group of them, and it spread pretty quickly from there," she said with a chuckle.

He tested the nickname on his lips and grinned. "That's pretty badass, I 'aint gonna' lie." He slipped it on gently over his bandages and draped his arm back over the bartender with a cheshire grin, "lets go see the family."

She beamed back and him and the two of the stepped out the door in tandem and headed towards the Fairy Tail guild hall.

After just making it a block down the road, the two had noticed a few of the townsfolk following behind them whispering. It made Naruto uncomfortable, giving him reminders from when he was a small kid back in the streets of Konoha. "Mira-chan?"

"Yes Naru-kun?" she said, smiling up at him.

"Why are we being followed?" Naruto whispered, nodding back subtly to the growing crowd behind them.

She gave him a knowing look. Before he had a chance to question her on it, a small boy ran up to him shyly, "Uh excuse me sir, are you the one everyone is calling Archangel?"

Naruto glanced at Mirajane and watched her snicker before looking down at the child, "I guess so kid."

"Cool! So you're the one who beat the mean guy that tried to attack our city with that super awesome powerful spell?" he said, the shyness evaporating only to be replaced with awe.

"Heh," Naruto said as he sheepishly rubbed the back his neck and chuckled, "it was pretty awesome, wasn't it?"

"Awesome! You were all like Kya! That bad guy was like oww my leg!" he exclaimed, launching a kick in the air at an invisible victim. "Can I have your autograph? Pretty please mister?" He was bouncing in excitement, holding a pen and a piece of paper up for him to grab.

"Sure kid, what's your name?" Naruto said as he took the writing utensil from his hand and began scribbling on the paper.

"Roku!" he exclaimed.

"Here kid, this is my first ever autograph, so you have to take really good care of it. One day when I become the best mage ever, you can sell it and make lots of money," he said as he handed it back to Roku.

"Thanks sir! I'll never sell it though, I'm going to treasure it always, and when I grow up, I'm going to be just like you!" he shouted as he ran off to the crowd of people. Naruto heard the kid yelling "It's him, it's him! It's really him!"

It was like the opening of the flood gates. People swarmed him, graciously thanking him for saving their town and family. Naruto was left speechless. The pure acceptance that he obtained in just weeks in Fiore was something that took him over sixteen years to scrape up in Konoha. It was a surreal.

The next hour passed in a blur for him. Mirajane finally saw fit to pull him out of the loving but suffocating embrace of the citizens of Magnolia after he had lost count of the number of autographs. His hand ached, and if he never had to write his name again, it would be entirely too soon. They took shortcuts through alleyways and low populated streets to get the rest of the way to the guild hall.

"They eventually calm down once they get more used to you," she smirked.

"Ohayo Naruto, Mira!" a female voice called out.

"Erza!" Naruto greeted as they walked up to the redhead who was currently dressed in a yellow and red construction suit. "How are you feeling?"

"I'm good, the Adamantine Armor absorbed most of the blow, but it left me significantly drained magically. It took about a day to replenish. How are you?"

"Stiff, but its manageable. I'll be back up to par before you know it," he said with a grin.

"Excellent. Master left word that if any of us were to see you that he wished to speak with you immediately," she stated, "he set up a temporary office in a tent behind the building where he is keeping the Missions boards and trying to catch up on the mountains of paperwork we caused him."

"Thanks Erza! Mira-chan I'll be back in a bit," he said as he eased himself off her shoulder.

"Are you going to be alright Naru-kun?" she said as she reached out a hand to steady him.

"I'll be fine, thanks for the lift," he said with a grin.

The girl smiled and winked at him before walking off, leaving a rosy blush that dotted his cheeks.

He was greeted warmly by his fellow guild members as he passed, and waved at each in turn with a smile on his face. None tried to stall him though, each had gotten the word from the master and directed him around the chaotic construction zone. He was amazed at the variety of some of the magics he witnessed as he walked towards the Master's tent.

Each mage pitched in in their own special way; one female he met in passing using wood magic, Reedus the heavy set pict magic user created impressive decorations and upholstery. Even those who's abilities were more suited for combat still pitched in where ever they good, following the directions of Erza Scarlet who had become the foreman of the project.

Naruto slid the tent flap opened expecting to find the guild master hard at work dealing with the large amount of paperwork that the guild war had supposedly caused him. What he did not expect however was for said master to be reclining on a tipped back chair with his feet propped up on a plushie Fairy Tail guild symbol a snoring lightly. _Heh. It's like a mixture between Old Man Sarutobi and Granny Tsunade. _His eyes spotted an empty beer mug on the floor next to the elderly man, _I take that back, 70% Tsunade, 30% Sarutobi, _he thought as a long bead of sweat dripped down his neck.

Naruto cleared his throat loudly, causing the elderly man to jump in surprise and fall back in his chair with a crash. _Guess I could have planned that better…_

"Naruto! Didn't see you there," Makarov said jovially, popping up spryly with his hands behind his back as is the situation had never happened. The forceful glare in his eyes that clashed with the all friendly smile ensured his secrecy with a gulp.

"Uhh Master I heard you wanted to see me?" Naruto said quickly.

"Ahh yes," the small Master started, "there are three things I wanted to speak to you about. The first is to congratulate you. I spoke to the Council about the events and they have agreed with me that you are deemed worthy of the rank of S-Class for defeating the Wizard Saint Jose Porla. This increase in status allows you access to the S-Class Mission Board, and once its complete, the up stairs balcony. Its sort of a VIP room."

"Uhh thanks?" Naruto said, a bit too shocked to respond properly.

"Your welcome," he said honestly, "you deserve it for standing up for our family like that. The next thing I would like to talk to you however is about your magic."

"My magic?" Naruto asked, "what about it?"

"This Eternano Make… How much do you know of it?" Makarov questioned, leveling an intent gaze.

Naruto shifted uncomfortably under the stare, "Umm, I honestly don't know much about it at all. Most of what I do with it are converted techniques that I used where I was from. I've been meaning to take some time off to train, but after I had gotten back from my mission we went straight into the Phantom Lord fiasco and things have been pretty hectic since."

Makarov sighed, "I figured as much. You seemed more like a person of instinct. From what I've seen myself and heard of from the guild members, it looks as if your magic's biggest limit is your own imagination. It takes mages weeks to months usually to learn a spell, while your magic seems more bent on force of will. It's as if once you lean the basics, the rest is just following your gut. You and Natsu would learn a lot from each other with your respective magics."

Naruto was surprised by the elderly man and his knowledge. "Have you ever heard of a magic style like mine?"

"Once, long ago I heard mentions of something of a similar nature, although I can't be sure. I have a few theories on the origins of that particular brand, and once I find the answer you have my word that you'll be the first to know," he promised.

"Thank you Master," the blond shinobi said graciously, "and what was the third thing?"

"The third thing is I want you to take a break for the next month. Rest and gather your strength back then train and learn your abilities. The Magic Council has asked us to do an S-Class mission for them."

"A mission for the Council?" Naruto asked wide eyed. From what he understood, the Council rarely put their hands in the missions of mages because of their large force of Rune Knights they maneuvered at their beck and call.

"Yes, you were chosen for a very important mission based on your great skill in stealth, along with your high level of strength. The Council has asked for you to travel to Crocus once you are recovered and at full strength and investigate the presence of the Dark Guild Tartaros."

Author's Notes - I am currently looking for a creative mind with a knack for attention to detail and sprinkled with a touch of grammar Nazi to be my beta. If anyone is interested please shoot me a message.

New Chap! I wanted to draw out the war a little bit more, but I just could bring myself to write fight scenes for Natsu, Gray and Elfman. I hate copying other people's work so I tried to keep it more in Naruto's perspective through the entire thing and focus mostly on his fights. Sorry for those of you who were looking for a bit longer of a battle with Jose, I tried my hardest, but eventually just got fed up with the lack of creativity of his character in general and wanted him gone.

If you need a visual picture of the wings think along the lines of Tyrael from Diablo II but blue.

A bit more fluff with Mira-chan and a new nickname.

Name: Namikaze Naruto

Age: 18

Guild: Fairy Tail

Magic: Eternano Make

Attacks:

Eternano Make: Rasengan - By spinning the concentrated magical energy rapidly in many directions and compressing it Naruto creates a power drill-like orb that can detonate with powerful force.

Eternano Make: Oodama Rasengan - A larger version of Rasengan

Eternano Make: Chou Oodama Rasengan - The ultimate version of the pure shape manipulation Rasengan.

Eternano Make: Clone - Naruto creates an illusionary replica of himself.

Eternano Make: Ether Explosion - Naruto gathers the concentrated energy within him and forces it out in a dome-like attack.

Eternano Make: Kaiten - Naruto spins the energy rapidly and surrounds himself with an orb that can deflect powerful attacks.

Eternano Make: Shadow Clone - Naruto creates a solid copy of himself capable of independent action. Memories the clone obtains in life are transported back to Naruto upon its death. The more shadow clones one employs, the weaker and less intelligent they will be.

Thank you everyone for your reviews, they are greatly appreciated.


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